BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

o 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


SPEECH 


HON.  JOHN  MINOR. JBOTTS, 


DELIVERED    ON    TUB    OCCASION    OF    A 


C0mplimentarg  g inner, 


AT  NEWARK,  N.  J., 


ON    THE    19th    OF    SEPTEMBER,     1853 


NEWARK,    N.    J. 

PRINTED    <)X    THE    STEAM    PRESS    OF    THE    DAILY    MERCURY. 

1853. 


at 


SPEECH 


HON.  J-OHN  MINOR  BOTTS, 


DELIVERED   ON   THE   OCCA8TO.V   OF  A 


COMPLIMENTARY  DINNEB, 


AT  NEWARK,  N.-J., 


ON    THE    19th    OF    SEPTEMBER,    1853. 


NEWARK,    N.   J. 

PRINTED   ON   THE   STEAM   PRESS   OF   THE    DAILY   MERCURY. 
1853. 


B 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


NEWARK,  N.  J.,  SEPTEMBER  9,  1853. 
HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS, 

DEAR  SIR  : — Having  learned  that  you  propose  to  spend  a  few  days  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  we  venture  to  hope  that  you  will  embrace  this  opportunity 
to  visit  our  city  and  exchange  friendly  salutions  with  your  many  warm  to 
and  grateful  admirers  here. 

As  Jerseymen  and  Whigs,  we  cherish  a  lively  recollection  of  the  valuable 
services  you  have  rendered,  both  in  and  out  of  Congress,  and  it  would  be  ex- 
ceedingly gratifying  to  us  to  extend  to  you  the  hospitality  of  a  public  dinner. 

Be  kind  enough  to  inform  us  when  you  can  make  it  convenient  to  meet 
your  friends  here. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

A.  C.  M.  PENNINGTON,  JAMES  M.  QUINBY, 

WM.  E.  ROBINSON,  JOS.  C.  IIORNBLOWER, 

DAVID  A.  HAYES,  SILAS  MERCHANT, 

DAVID  C.  DODD,  H.  N.  CONGAR, 

THEO.  P.  HO  WELL,  STEPHEN  CONGAR, 

DANIEL  T.  CLARK.  W.  E.  LAYTON. 


ASTOR  HOUSE,  SEPTEMBER  12,  1853. 
GENTLEMEN, 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  your  very  kind  invitation  to  accept  a 
public  dinner  from  my  friends  at  Newark,  for  what  you  are  pleased  to  term 
the  valuable  services  I  have  rendered  you  as  Jerseymen  arid  Whigs  both  in 
and  out  of  Congress. 

Whatever  I  may  have  done,  gentlemen,  in  either  position,  to  entitle  me  to 
the  good  opinion  and  good  will  of  the  people  of  New  Jersey,  was  prompted 
by  a  sense  of  obligations  that  as  a  public  man  I  owed  to  you,  to  the  country, 
and  to  myself;  and  whilst  I  disclaim  all  pretensions  to  your  gratitude  for  the 
discharge  of  a  simple  duty  that  my  nature  could  not  have  resisted,  I  nevep- 
theless  feel  proud  that  my  humble  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  broad  seal  of  New 


iv  CORRESPONDENCE. 

Jersey  as  a  memorable  period  of  her  history,  or  in  behalf  of  the  great  Whig 
party  of  the  country  at  a  latter  day,  should  have  secured  your  approbation 
and  esteem. 

This  is  not  the  first  time  that  the  citizens  of  New  Jersey  have  manifested 
their  kindness  towards  me,  and,  having  now  no  good  excuse  to  offer,  I  do  not 
feel  at  liberty  again  to  decline  the  hospitality  that  has  been  so  generously 
extended,  and,  therefore,  witli  great  gratification  I  accept  your  invitation,  and 
would  indicate  Monday,  the  19th  inst.,  as  the  earliest  day  that  it  would  suit 
my  convenience  to  attend. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  with  great  sincerity,  your  obliged  fellow  citizen. 

JOHN  M.  BOTT3. 
PENNTNGTON,  and  others. 


The  above  correspondence  will  be  read  with  gratification  by  the  host  of 
gallant  and  true-hearted  Whigs  in  this  city,  who  will  recognize  in  the  Hon. 
JOHN  MINOR  BOTTS,  one  of  the  best  and  worthiest  Whigs  of  the  Union.  As  a 
genuine  representative  of  the  National  Whigs,  it  is  pleasure  to  do  him  honor, 
for  we  know  that  to  him  the  South  is  nothing  more  than  the  North  and  the 
whole  a  glorious  country,  to  be  divided  by  no  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Few 
of  our  public  men  are  so  thoroughly  national  in  all  their  feelings,  as  Mr. 
Botts,  and  this  may  be  somewhat  attributed  to  the  Clay  school  in  which  he 
was  educated.  His  -speeches  are  full  of  power  and  afford  food  for  reflection, 
and  he  never  alters  the  style  of  them  to  suit  the  different  latitudes  of  New 
Jersey  and  Virginia.  Bold  and  forcible  in  his  enunciation  of  important  prin- 
ciples, he  does  not  stop  to  enquire  whether  a  measure  is  popular,  but  whether 
it  is  right.  Such  a  man  is  honorable,  of  course,  in  his  conduct  and  instincts. 
He  is  not  the  tool  of  time  servers,  but  as  a  true  and  glorious  statesman,  takes 
his  place  among  the  great  men  of  the  nation. — Newark  Mercury,  Sept.  14. 


NEWARK,  N.  J.,  SEPTEMBER,  24,  1868 
HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS, 

DEAR.  SIR: — Having  listened  with  much  satisfaction  to  the  very  able  address 
delivered  by  you  at  the  public  dinner,  given  by  your  Whig  friends  and  admi- 
rers in  this  city  on  the  19th  inst.,  and  believing  that  its  general  circulation  at 
this  time,  would  be  productive  of  good  in  setting  forth  clearly  and  favorably, 


CORRESPONDENCE.  V 

the  position  and  the  duty  of  the  Whig  party,  we  feel   constrained  to  ask 
yon  to  write  out  your  remarks  on  that  occasion  for  publication. 

Be  pleased  to  give  us  a  favorable  response  to  this  request,  and  you  will 

greatly  oblige, 

Your  friends  and  fellow  Whigs, 

A.  C.  M.  PENNINGTON,  JAMES  M.  QUINBY, 

SILAS  MERCHANT,  DAVID  C.  DODD, 

JOS.  C.  HORNBLOWER,  STEPHEN  CONGAR, 

II.  N.  CONGAR,  WM.  E.  LAYTON, 

WM.  E.  ROBINSON,  D.  T.  CLARK, 

DAVID  A.  HAYES,  THEO.  P.  HO  WELL. 


HOUSE,  OCTOBER  3,  1853. 
GENTLEMEN, 

Just  as  I  was  leaving  here  last  week,  I  received  your  letter  asking  me  to 
write  out,  for  publication,  the  speech  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the  dinner 
lately  given  me  by  my  friends  in  Newark. 

Anxious  to  comply  with  any  request  that  such  friends  could  make,  I  have 
stolen  the  time  from  other  and  pressing  occupations  since  I  have  been  here, 
to  commit  to  paper  the  views  and  opinions  I  then  expressed,  which  you  will 
receive  herewith. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  with  the  highest  esteem  and  regard,  your  fellow  citizen 
and  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  M.  BOTTS. 

To  the  Committee. 


[FROM  TH«  NEWARK  DAILY  MERCURY,  SEPTEMBER  20,  1853.] 
BANCROFT  U5RARY 


inner  to  pm  |0|n  f$l 


The  dinner  tendered  to  the  Hon.  J.  M.  Botts,  of  Virginia,  came 
off  last  evening  at  the  City  Hotel,  and  was  the  occasion  of  a  most 
genial  gathering  of  the  Whigs  of  our  city.  On  every  side  were  to 
be  seen,  those  who  have  battled  through  good  and  evil  report,  in 
storm  and  sunshine,  for  the  success  of  the  Whig  cause.  The  work- 
ing Whigs  of  the  city  were  on  hand  exhibiting  that  old  spirit  which 
is  ever  the  forerunner  of  a  triumph.  Steadily  and  truly  they  have 
labored  in  the  ranks  regardless,  alike  of  defeat  or  treachery,  waiting 
for  the  victory  certain  to  result  from  their  continued  conflict. 

The  company,  consisting  of  some  seventy-five  individuals,  sat 
down  to  a  most  sumptuous  entertainment  about  nine  o'clock.  The 
Hon.  A.  C.  M.  PENNINGTON,  occupied  the  head  of  the  table,  with 
the  Hon.  J.  M.  BOTTS,  Dr.  LEVIN  JONES,  of  Texas,  and  Mayor 
QUINBY,  on  the  right,  and  the  venerable  Ex-Chief  Justice  HORN- 
BLOWER,  and  RICHARD  Fox,  Esq.,  of  Eichuiond,Virginia,  on  the  left. 
After  the  full  discussion  of  the  excellent  entertainment,  the  Presi- 
dent announced  the  first  regular  toast : 

1.  Our  Country— The  North,  the  South,  the  East  and  the  West— as  Whigs 
and  Jerseymen  we  know  and  love  them  all. 

Hon.  A.  C.  M.  Pennington,  the  President,  rose  and  said  : 
I  rise  to  propose  the  health  of  a  Whig  who  has  been  ever  faithful 
and  ever  true  —  a  man  who,  whether  in  success  or  defeat,  in  storm 
or  sunshine,  in  glory  or  in  gloom,  has  ever  stood  by  the  Whig 
party — a  man,  I  may  add,  who  is  a  Whig  because  he  loves  the 
Whig  party,  and  not  because  he  wishes  to  profit  by  it.  [Cheers.] 
He  comes  from  the  good  old  State  of  Virginia  —  a  State  said  to  be 
the  mother  of  Presidents.  She  certainly  has  been  the  mother  of 
statesmen,  and  not  the  least  of  them,  of  him  in  whose  honor  I  rose 
to  propose  this  sentiment.  [Great  cheering.] 


8  SPEECH   OF  THE 

2.  Our  Guest,  the  Hon.  John  M.  Botts,  of  Virginia — Independent  in  his 
opinions,  and  fearless  in  advocating  them,  the  Whig  party  are  proud  of  him 
as  a  champion  of  the  good  old  Whig  cause. 

Mr.  Botts  arose  and  responded  as  follows : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN. — I  should  be  but  treading  in 
an  old  and  beaten  path  if  I  were  to  engage  in  a  labored  effort  to  ex- 
press what  I  sincerely  feel  on  this,  to  me,  interesting  and  gratifying 
occasion.  I  must  leave  much  of  what  I  would  say,  to  the  imagina- 
tion of  those  who  have  done  me  the  distinguished  honor,  to  extend 
to  me  this  evidence  of  their  kind  regard.  Let  it  suffice,  when  I 
assure  you,  that  I  am  profoundly  grateful,  not  for  this  manifestation 
only,  but  for  other,  and  repeated  occasions  on  which  I  have  received 
assurances  of  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  people  of  New  Jersey. 
Sir,  I  shall  never  cease  to  feel  that  you  have  over  estimated  the  small 
service,  that  some  twelve  years  since,  it  was  my  humble  part  to  render 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  in  defence  of  the  broad  seal  of  New 
Jersey. 

It  was  not  for  you  Mr.  Chairman,  it  was  not  for  you  gentlemen, 
who  occupy  seats  at  this  festive  board,  that  I  took  a  part  in  that 
remarkable  and  never-to-be-forgotten  struggle,  in  which  the  laws,  and 
sovereign  rights  of  a  State,  were  shamefully  trodden  down,  by  those 
who  are  loudest  in  their  professions  of  devotion  to  the  rights  of  the 
States,  for  you  were  then  strangers  to  me  ;  what  I  did,  was  done  in 
defence  of  a  great  principle,  which  my  duty  and  inclination  would 
alike  have  urged  me,  to  render  as  promptly  to  any  other  people  or 
State,  as  to  the  people  and  State  of  which  you  form  a  part. 

In  offering  the  sentiment,  Mr.  Chairman,  which  you  have  just 
announced,  you  did  me  the  honor  to  make  reference  to  my  unwa- 
vering devotion,  whether  in  sunshine  or  in  gloom,  whether  in  triumph 
or  defeat,  to  the  Whig  party  and  its  principles  ;  and  from  the  en- 
thusiastic response  with  which  those  remarks  were  received,  I  cannot 
but  natter  myself,  that  I  stand  in  the  presence  of  those,  who  still 
believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Whig  party. 

Since  I  have  been  in  New  York  (the  great  political,  as  well  as  the 
great  commercial  emporium  of  the  nation),  I  have  scarcely  taken  up 
a  paper  that  did  not  speak  of  that  great  party,  as  dead,  and  its 
principles  as  obsolete ;  I  knew  that  from  the  day  on  which  our  last  great 
national  struggle  for  ascendancy  resulted  so  disastrously  for  our 
cause,  and  the  welfare  of  our  country,  that  there  had  been  an 
unceasing  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Democratic  press  to  frighten  the 
timid,  to  bewilder  the  weak,  to  betray  the  ignorant,  into  conviction 


HON.  JOHN   M.  BOTTS.  9 

and  confession,  that  the  Whig  party  was  a  thing  to  be  heard  of  here- 
after— "  never  no  more  forever ;"  but  it  was  not  until  my  present 
visit  to  the  North,  that  I  was  prepared  to  believe  it  possible,  that  any 
part  of  the  Whig  press  would  also  unite  in  such  an  effort  to  destroy 
our  organization;  and,  Mr.  President,  it  suggests  itself  tome  as 
being  not  entirely  unsuitable  or  inappropriate  to  the  present  occa- 
sion, to  examine  the  question  of  the  existence,  or  non-existence  of 
this,  the  only  sound  and  conservative  party  in  the  country  ;  what 
is  the  position  it  at  present  occupies,  what  are  its  claims  upon  the 
confidence  and  support  of  the  country,  as  contrasted  with  what  is 
called  "  Democracy,"  and  what  is  likely  to  be  its  ultimate  destiny  ; 
and  whatever  I  may  say  here  to-night,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  beg  to  be  un- 
derstood as  said  by  an  humble  private  in  the  ranks,  who  has  no 
political  aspirations  to  gratify,  and  no  personal  ends  to  accomplish. 
I  have  found  public  life  not  only  a  laborious  and  unprofitable,  but 
most  thankless  occupation.  I  have  found  many  of  those  for  whose 
interests  and  welfare  I  have  devoted  the  energies  of  bo  th  mind  and 
body  for  twenty  years  or  more,  prompt  to  surrender  their  own  great 
inestimable  natural  rights,  for  which  I  had  struggled,  to  the  dictation 
of  party,  and  to  the  vulgar  prejudice  of  hollow,  deceptive,  unmeaning 
party  names ;  under  the  flimsy  disguise  of  a  spurious  Democracy,  every 
wrong  has  been  perpetrated,  and  every  perpetration  has  been  sus- 
tained by  those  upon  whom  those  wrongs  most  severely  oparated. 
No,  Sir  ;  I  am  sick  of  political  life,  and  shall  never  seek  to  fill  another 
public  station  ;  if  any  services  shall  be  demanded  of  me  at  any  time 
hereafter,  in  a  position  where  I  can  promote  the  interests  of  the 
masses,  where  I  can  sustain  and  uphold  the  power  of  the  people ? 
against  the  power  of  the  politicians,  and  selfish  office  seekers  of  the 
land,  I  shall  be  ready  to  obey  the  call ;  but  when  it  does  come,  it 
must  come  (in  the  language  of  some  Kentuckian  I  believe,)  u  by 
spontaneous  combustion  ;"  if  any  political  mantle  should  light  on  my 
shoulders,  I  would  endeavor  to  wear  it  gracefully  and  becomingly, 
but  I  shall  not  seek  it. 

Understanding  as  I  trust  you  do  then,  that  it  is  only  in  the 
character  of  an  unaspiring  citizen  that  I  speak,  I  will  proceed  with 
the  several  topics  that  I  have  suggested. 

The  first  enquiry  is,  When  did  the  Whig  party  die  ?  If  dead,  it 
died  on  the  third  day  of  November.  18,%,  and  on  that  day  it  re- 
corded one  million  three  hundred  and  eightv-Sve  thousand,  true, 
genuine,  undismayed  Whig  votes ;  such  »  vote  as  was  never  given 


1  0  SPEECH    OF    THE 

before,  for  that,  or  any  other  party  since  the  foundation  of  the  gov- 
ernment;  and  it  only  required  about  th:  oy-five  thousand  votes, 
properly  distributed,  to  have  secured  success  to  its  candidate.  Never 
was  a  party  surrounded  by  so  many  adverse  circumstances  as  was  ours 
on  that  day  :  with  a  patched  up  peace  and  harmony,  between  all  the 
"  isms  and  seisms,"  and  factions  of  the  country,  in  support  of  a  gen- 
tleman that  nobody  knew,  and  that  it  seems  now  but  one  of  the  fac- 
tions (the  Free-Soilers)  understood ;  and  with  a  prejudice  deep  rooted 
and  immoveable,  in  our  own  ranks,  that  lost  us  thousands,  and  tens 
of  thousands  for  the  candidate  whom  the  Whig  party  had  selected ; 
with  the  influence  of  many  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  our  party, 
in  position  and  out  of  position,  actively  or  secretly  exerted  against 
us  ;  still  we  cast  that  vote  of  one  million  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  thousand  for  G-eneral  Winfield  Scott,  and  wanted  but  the  thirty- 
five  thousand,  as  I  have  said,  properly  distributed,  to  have  secured  a 
triumphant  victory,  which  it  was  in  the  power  of  a,  few,  occupying 
prominent  positions  in  the  government,  to  have  given  us,  at  such 
points  as  they  were  most  needed,  but  which  they  did  not  think  proper 
to  do,  but  in  point  of  fact,  by  their  influence  withheld  from 
us.  And  yet  we  are  told,  that  this  extraordinary  strength,  thus  ex- 
hibited, furnished  the  indication  of  our  weakness,  and  the  necessity 
for  our  dissolution ;  yet,  these  were  the  circumstances  under  which 
we  went  into  that  struggle,  and  this  was  our  condition  when  we  came 
out  of  it ;  and  now,  when  we  see  the  evidence  of  decay  in  the  ranks 
of  those  by  whom  we  were  defeated,  when  we  see  every  where  around 
us,  old  hostilities  and  dissensions  breaking  out  afresh  and  with  in- 
creased rancor,  in  the  Democratic  ranks,  in  a  general  scramble  for 
the  spoils,  we  are  gravely  told  that  the  Whig  party  is  'no  more,  and 
we  are  advised  to  set  to  work  to  get  up  a  new  organization  ;  for  one, 
I  say  I  am  satisfied  to  stay  where  I  am,  adhering  with  true  and  strict 
fidelity  to  my  principles,  my  country,  and  my  party  under  its  present 
organization. 

It  has  been  told  of  one  of  the  Kings  of  France,  that  on  a  certain 
occasion  he  visited  one  of  the  smaller  cities  of  his  dominions,  when 
the  Mayor  of  the  place  commenced  an  apology  for  not  offering  him  a 
salute  on  his  arrival,  saying  "  Sire,  there  are  a  thousand  reasons  why 
it  was  not  done  ;  in  the  first  place  we  had  no  powder."  "  Stop,"  said 
the  King, "  that  one  is  sufficient ;  you  can  reserve  the  other  nine  hun- 
dred and  ninety-nine  for  another  occasion."  So  it  is  here  Mr.  Chair- 
man, there  arc  a  thousand  reasons  why  we  should  not  disband  ;  but 


HON.  JOHN   M.  BOTTS.  1  1 

one  is  insurmountable  and  unsuperable  with  me  ;  it  is,  that  if  wo  give 
up  this  our  present  national  organization,  it  will  degenerate  into  con- 
temptible sectional  factions  all  over  the  country  ;  the  other  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  I  shall  also  reserve  for  another  occasion. 

I  incline  to  think  that  we  should  derive  some  advantage  by  as- 
suming our  old  and  true  name,  of  "  National  Republicans ;"  for 
whilst  there  is  no  particular  meaning  attached  to  the  word  "Whig," 
and  the  masses  do  not  know  what  it  imports,  "  Nationality  "  and 
"Republicanism"  have  each  a  clear  and  distinct  definition,  that  every 
body  understand,  and  that  no  sound  man  can  object  to ;  but  a 
change  to  an  old  name  does  not  involve  re-organization,  and  there, 
fore  1  am  for  adhering  to  the  organization  as  it  is. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  been  a  member  of  the  Whig  party  Irom  the 
day  it  was  first  organized.  I  may  claim  to  be  one  of  the  fathers  of 
the  party.  I  was  one  of  that  old  National  Republican  party  which 
constituted  the  nucleus  upon  which  the  present  Whig  party  was 
formed,  and  which  was  first  christened  the  "  Whig  party  "  by  John 
C.  Calhoun,  who  then  belonged  to  it,  because  it  had  for  its  basis, 
opposition  to  executive  power,  which  came  in  conflict  with  the  power 
of  the  people  as  expressed  through  their  representatives  in  Congress  ; 
this  was  the  origin  of  the  party ;  these  were  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  unfortunately  changed  in  name  from  that  of  "  National 
Republican  "  to  "  Whig,"  at  the  time  of  the  bank  veto,  removal  of 
the  deposits,  the  celebrated  protest  of  -G-eneral  Jackson,  expunging 
resolutions,  &c.,  &c.  It  had  "  nationality  "  and  popular  rights  then 
as  its  basis  and  foundation ;  it  has  maintained  both  in  its  superstruc- 
ture to  this  day,  and  the  day  that  it  drops  its  nationally  or  ceases  to 
vindicate  the  rights  and  the  power  of  the  people,  that  day  I  drop  it 
and  abandon  it  forever  ;  until  then,  through  good  and  evil  report,  in 
adversity  and  success,  I  shall  always  be  found  in  my  place ;  and  in 
the  meantime  nothing  could  be  more  ridiculous  than  the  attempt  now 
made  to  identify  the  great  national  Whig  party  with  the  local  politics 
of  New  York. 

Yes,  sir ;  I  helped  to  rock  the  baby  in  its  infancy,  and  to  nurse 
it  into  manhood.  I  have  seen  it  grow  up  and  assume  a  collossal 
statue,  and  while  I  have  rejoiced  in  its  triumphs,  I  have  never  been 
disheartened  nor  discouraged  by  its  defeat,  nor  by  a  succession  of 
defeats. 

The  great  curse  of  the  Whig  party  has  been  its  timidity  ;  its  wil- 
lingness to  lay  down  its  arms  and  surrender  at  discretion  upon  every 


12  SPEECH   OP  THE 

reverse  of  fortune ;  there  arc  too  many  of  our  leading  men  who 
cannot  live  in  a  minority,  who  cannot  breathe  easily  unless  they  are 
sustained  by  power  ;  -and  upon  each  successive  defeat,  we  are  admon- 
ished by  them,  of  the  necessity  of  abandoning  this  measure  and  that, 
because  (they  say)  we  can  never  get  into  power  until  we  do.  Sir, 
with  me  it  is  not  a  question  of  power  ;  it  is  a  question  of  right  and 
of  propriety.  I  ask  mysolf  the  question,  is  this  a  proper  measure  for 
the  government  to  adopt  ?  Will  it  advance  the  general  prosperity  ? 
Will  it  benefit  the  people  ?  Will  it  promote  the  arts  of  peace  ? 
Will  the  great  agricultural,  commercial,  manufactui  ing,  and  laboring 
interests  of  the  country  be  advanced  by  its  adoption  ?  and  if  these 
questions  are  answered  in  the  affirmative,  why  should  I,  or  you,  or 
any  of  us  surrender  them,  because  we  happen  to  be  beaten  in  a 
political  contest  involving  a  thousand  other  minor  issues  as  well  as 
these  ? 

While  we  owe  our  defeats  in  a  great  measure  to  this  practised 
timidity,  our  opponents  arc  largely  indebted  for  their  occasional  suc- 
cess, to  a  different  system  of  tactics.  I  have  always  admired  them 
for  their  boldness  and  courage,  if  for  nothing  else  ;  the  more  you 
whip  them  to-day  the  readier  they  are  for  the  light  to-morrow ;  and 
that  is  just  what  I  want  to  sec  the  Whig  party  do  ;  how  else  did 
they  succeed  in  fastening  that  contemptible  humbug,  the  Sub- 
Treasury,  (which  never  has,  and  never  can  be  practically  executed 
without  immense  loss  to  the  government  and  injury  to  the  people,) 
upon  the  country  ?  When  they  were  so  badly  beaten  upon  that  issue 
in  1840,  did  they  abandon  it?  Did  they  give  it  up  ?  And  if  by 
their  perseverance  they  could  thus  succeed  in .  establishing  a  bad 
measure,  why  could  not  we  by  a  similar  perseverance,  succeed  in 
establishing  a  good  one  ?  And  at  this  moment  when  we  know  that 
there  is  not  one  sensible  and  well  .informed  man  in  the  country, 
whether  Whig  or  Democrat,  who  believes  in  the  wisdom  or  practica- 
bility of  the  law,  as  it  now  stands,  we  see  all  submitting  to  it,  and 
the  Whig  party  seem  afraid  to  throttle  the  monster,  and  to  crush 
its  enormities ;  but  something  more  of  this  Sub-Treasury  hereafter. 

Let  us  take  up  these  measures  for  which  we  have  Contended  for 
twenty  years,  one  by  one,  and  see  if  any  good  reason  exists  for 
abandoning  them  ;  if  upon  fair  trial  they  shall  have  proved  to  be  in- 
jurious to  the  public  good,  let  them  go  ;  but  surely,  no  sane  man  can 
be  convinced  of  their  injurious  tendency,  because  we  cannot  always 
retain  the  power  of  the  government  in  our  own  hands  ;  and  I  might 


HON.  JOHN   M.  BOTTS.  13 

here  remark,  that  if  the  people  are  supposed  to  have  decided  against 
them  in  '44  and  '52,  they  as  surely  decided  in  their  favor  in  '40  and 
'48,  and  are  most  likely  to  do  so  again  in  '56. 

How  is  it  with  the  question  of  protection  to  home  labor  ?  Has 
that  great  principle  become  obsolete  ?  Are  we  ready  to  give  it  up  ? 
Is  free  trade  indeed  in  the  ascendancy  ?  The  tariff  of  '46  I  grant 
you  has  taken  the  place  of  the  tariff  of  '42,  but  then  is  the  tariff  of 
'46  a  free  trade  tariff?  Does  not  everybody  of  good  sense  know, 
that  any  tariff  that  ranges  in  its  duties  from  ten  and  fifteen,  to  forty 
and  fifty  per  cent.,  and  upwards,  is  a  discriminating  tariff?  and  don't 
every  body  know  that  discrimination  is  a  recognition  of  the  principle 
of  protection  ?  The  question  is,  is  it  a  judicious  discrimination,  and 
does  it  protect  where  protection  is  most  needed  ?  But  discrimina- 
tion in  itself  recognizes  the  principle,  and  in  any  alteration  that 
may  be  made  of  the  present  tariff,  the  party  in  power  will  not 
fail  to  adopt  that  principle.  You  may  call  things  by  what  names 
you  choose,  but  the  tariff  of  '46,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  no  more  a  free 
trade  tariff  than  my  State  is  a  free  State  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  I  do 
not  agree  that  it  judiciously  discriminates,  or  affords  proper  protec- 
tion to  such  articles  as  most  need  it.  I  moan  such  articles  as  we  caai 
supply  at  home,  and  must  consume. 

It  may  become,  perhaps  it  has  become  necessary,  that  the  tariff 
should  be  revised  and  modified,  if  only  to  diminish  the  superabund- 
ant revenue  that  is  accumulating  in  the  public  treasury,  and  it  may 
be  found  indispensable  to  diminish  the  duties  on  some  articles,  and 
equally  indispensable  to  increase  them  on  others,  but  you  will  find 
that  under  no  circumstances,  will  any  party  in  this  country,  venture 
upon  an  equal  rate  of  duties  on  all  articles  that  we  import.  They 
must  and  will  discriminate,  and  so  discriminate,  as  to  give  protection 
to  certain  interests  ;  and  if  I  am  right  in  this,  let  us,  instead  of  sur- 
rendering the  principle,  maintain  that  we  have  established  the  wisdom 
of  the  system,  and  claim  the  credit  for  our  party,  that  its  sagacity 
and  wisdom  has  entitled  it  to  receive  at  the  hands  of  our  opponents. 

But  let  us  see  how  their  tariff  of  '46  has  operated,  practically  ; 
that  it  has  furnished  a  sufficient  amount  of  revenue  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned ;  but  at  what  cost  it  has  done  so,  remains  to  be  seen.  We  all 
know  how  common  it  is  for  the  public  men  of  the  Democratic  party, 
(they  have  usurped  that  name,  and  in  it,  consists  their  only  strength,) 
to  claim  infinite  credit  for  the  acquisition  of  California,  which  with 
its  untold  millions  of  gold,  they  say  has  staved  off  such  a  commer- 


14  SPEECH   OF   THE 

cial  crisis,  as  has  been  heretofore  unknown  to  our  people  ;  well 
admit  that  to  be  so ;  what  I  desire  they  should  next  tell  us,  is, 
what  would  have  produced  this  crisis  ;  and  then  what  resort  would 
have  been  necessary  had  not  the  golden  sands  of  California  so  op- 
portunely come,  to  avert  the  calamity  and  distress  which  would  have 
befallen  us.  'I  will  tell  you.  First,  it  was  the  vicious  (or  perhaps  it 
would  be  more  appropriate  to  say  unsound)  system  of  legislation,  by 
which  our  people  were  induced  to  encourage  European  workshops 
and  European  labor  to  the  exclusion  of  American  workshops,  and 
American  labor,  that  would  have  brought  on  the  crisis  —  precisely 
the  same  causes  that  produced  the  revulsion  of  1837 ;  and  in  the 
next  place  to  have  remedied  the  evil,  it  would  have  been  necessary 
to  resort  to  a  different  system,  by  which  we  should  have  afforded  en- 
couragement and  protection  to  the  labor  of  our  own  people  in  pref- 
erence to  the  labor  of  any  other  people  on  the  earth  ;  as  it  is,  that 
mighty  influx  of  gold  that  should  have  been  spent  among  our  own 
people  at  home,  has  followed  on  in  the  regular  channels  of  trade,  and 
is  now  to  be  found  in  the  workshops  of  Europe.  Now,  in  my  judg- 
ment, he  is  the  wisest  man,  and  the  most  reliable  statesman,  who 
recommends  such  a  system  of  legislation  as  would  enable  the  indus- 
try of  the  country  to  protect  itself,  at  all  times  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, and  that  would  render  the  country  absolutely  independ- 
ent in  every  sense  of  the  word.  Suppose  a  general  war  should 
break  out  in  Europe,  in  which  the  four  chief  powers  should  be 
engaged,  which  I  have  not  only  looked  upon  for  some  months  as 
extremely  probable,  but  as  almost  certain,  notwithstanding  the 
opposite  views  that  have  prevailed  in  this  country  as  well  as  in 
France  and  England,  for  I  have  not  been  able  to  see  why  the  Em- 
peror Nicholas  should  relinquish  the  advantages  he  has  already 
obtained,  (by  the  temporizing  course  of  France  and  England,  each  of 
whom  have  frittered  away  their  time  in  idle  negotiations,  while  he  has 
been  preparing  for  war,)  towards  the  accomplishment  of  an  object 
that  has  constituted  the  chief  anxiety  of  Kussia  from  the  days  of 
Peter  the  Grreat,  down  to  the  present  time,  to  wit :  the  possession  of 
Constantinople.  I  say,  suppose  such  a  war  should  come,  what  would 
be  the  consequence  to  us  ?  The  low  rate  of  duties,  as  I  have  said, 
has  induced  our  countrymen  to  go  abroad  to  purchase  many,  very 
many  articles  which  we  were  able  to  furnish  and  should  have  manu- 
factured at  home,  and  by  that  process  we  have  become  largely 
indebted  to  Great  Britain. 


HON.  JOHN   M.  BOTTS.  15 

\ 

The  British  government  is  sustained  by  its  monied  aristocracy  ; 
they  must  have  money  to  carry  on  the  war ;  the  Barings  and  the 
Rothchilds  will  have  the  control  of  the  entire  debt,  in  all,  amount- 
ing to  some  four  or  five  hundred  millions,  and  will  call  it  in 
as  fast  as  it  becomes  due ;  and  then  is  the  time  that  the  shoe  will 
begin  to  pinch  ;  then  will  be  the  time  that  we  shall  discover  the  beau- 
ties and  advantages  of  excessive  importations  superinduced  by  low 
duties  ;  and  with  or  without  war,  pay-day  must,  and  will  come,  soon- 
er or  later ;  and  when  it  does  arrive,  then  we  shall  see  the  workings 
of  what  many  are  now  pleased  to  call  the  free  trade  system. 

Even  now  in  the  absence  of  a  war  in  Europe,  suppose  my  friend 
from  Texas  [Dr.  Jones,  who  sat  near  by]  were  here  to  borrow,  on 
the  best  possible  security,  for  himself,  or  his  State,  a  sum  of  money 
necessary  to  carry  on  some  important  work  of  internal  improvement, 
and  he  were  to  go  upon  Wall  street  to  obtain  it,  would  he  not  be  told 
to  go  to  England  and  he  would  be  supplied  ?  Now  why  should  this 
be  ?  Why  simply  because  our  money  has  all  gone  there  to  be 
expended  in  foreign  labor,  when  it  should  have  been  expended  upon 
domestic  industry.  Had  our  policy  been  pursued,  we  should  have 
been  able  to  withstand  the  convulsions  and  upheavings  of  Europe  ; 
for  then  we  should  not  only  have  been  entirely  out  of  debt,  but  should 
have  retained  the  California  gold  among  ourselves.  Dead  as  the  Whig 
party  is  said  to  be,  obsolete  as  are  its  principles,  I  am  as  resolute  as 
ever  in  favor  of  the  policy  of  protection  to  American  labor  and 
American  enterprise,  against  the  labor  and  enterprise  of  all  the 
world. 

Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  I  have  seen  no  cause  to  change  my 
opinions  on  that  subject ;  but  on  the  contrary,  I  see  every  reason 
why  we  should  hold  on  to  it,  and  why  the  other  party  should  adopt 
it  as  a  part  of  their  policy  ;  and  the  time  will  come,  indeed  it  is  not 
far  distant,  when  all  will  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  it  is 
the  true  system  for  our  government  to  adopt.  Nay,  the  policy 
of  President  Pierce  (as  it  lias  been  foreshadowed  by  some  appar- 
ently confidential  friend)  will  be  to  protect  all  those  interests  con- 
nected with  the  national  defences.  Here,  then,  is  a  virtual  recogni- 
tion of  the  principle  of  protection  ;  and  what  a  margin  does  it  leave  ? 
What  is  necessary  for  the  national  defences  ?  Iron  and  lead  cer- 
tainly are  ;  but  will  it  not  also  embrace  woolens,  cloths,  blanket  ma- 
king, leather,  shoes,  and  cotton  ?  because  it  is  obviously  quite  as 
necessary  that  our  soldiers  (to  enable  them  to  resist  the  elements) 


16  SPEECH   OF  THE 

should  have  clothing,  blankets,  shoes,  and  shirts,  as  powder,  guns, 
and  balls,  to  resist  the  enemy.  *  *  *  Let  us  then  hold  on  to 
our  cherished  principle  of  protection.  Don't  let  us  throw  it  aside  as 
a  cast-off  garment,  to  be  taken  up  by  the  first  who  passes  on  the 
great  highway,  for  then  our  opponents  will  be  entitled  to  take  it,  and 
use  it  to  our  disadvantage ;  let  us  rather  force  them  to  borrow,  or  to 
beg  it,  and  give  us  the  credit  for  it. 

Then  what  about  that  other  great  question  of  internal  improve- 
ments, which  has  heretofore  been  a  bone  of  contention  ?  Is  that 
obsolete  too  ?  Why  what  have  we  lately  witnessed  ?  We  have  seen 
the  Democratic  party  meeting  in  convention  at  Baltimore,  looking 
only  to  political  results,  patching  up  a  platform  in  which  they  utter- 
ly repudiate  every  principle  of  the  Whig  party,  as  destructive  and 
ruinous  to  the  best  interests  of  the  nation,  and  going  before  the  coun- 
try with  a  candidate  pledged  to  free  trade,  anti-internal  improve- 
ments, and  against  an  equal  distribution  of  the  public  lands,  and 
fully  committed  to  sustain  the  Union  and  the  compromise  parties  of 
the  country.  They  succeed — their  object  is  accomplished — General 
Pierce  is  elected,  and  a  few  months  after  we  see  another  convention 
assembled  at  Memphis,  far  larger  than  the  first,  composed  chiefly  of 
prominent,  influential,  and  talented  men  of  the  same  party,  the 
object  of  which  is  to  devise  and  recommend  for  the  adoption  of  the 
government,  such  measures  as  are  best  calculated  to  advance  the 
great  interests  of  the  entire  country  ;  no  longer  having  political  ends 
in  view,  they  recognise  all  those  principles  they  had  just  before  repu- 
diated and  denounced,  and  they  call  upon  the  executive  of  their  own 
selection,  to  administer  the  government  upon  those  very  principles 
which  have  heretofore  divided  the  two  great  parties  of  the  country, 
and  for  which  the  Whigs  have  struggled,  with  alternate  success  and 
defeat  for  the  last  twenty  years ;  and  yet  we  are  told  that  our  princi- 
ples are  obsolete,  and  antediluvian.  Yes  sir,  that  convention  asked 
for  protection  from  the  government,  to  steam  communication  between 
the  southern  and  European  ports ;  they  recommended  a  system  of 
internal  improvements  that  will  connect  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific 
coasts ;  and  they  called  for  a  distribution  of  the  public  lands,  among 
the  states  bordering  on  the  western  waters,  for  improving  the  naviga- 
tion of  those  mighty  streams ;  and  added  to  this,  we  see  their  Union- 
loving  and  compromise-abiding  President  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
claims  of  the  Union-loving  and  compromise-abiding  men  of  the 
country,  while  he  showers  his  favors,  bestows  his  rewards,  and  fills 


HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS.  17 

the  offices  of.  the  country,  north  and  south,  on  those  alone  who  had 
been  most  violent  in  their  hostility  and  opposition  to  the  compromise 
measures  —  the  agitators  of  the  slavery  question  in  one  section,  and 
the  secessionists  and  disunionists  in  the  other.  Here  we  have  Dem- 
ocratic profession  on  the  one  hand,  and  Democratic  practice  on  the 
other ;  and  now  I  ask  you  gentlemen,  and  I  would  ask  the  country 
to  survey  the  position  they  occupy,  and  tell  me  what  claims  have  the 
so-called  Democracy  to  the  confidence  and  support  of  our  people  ? 
and  I  ask  you  farther,  if  this  is  a  time  for  any  Whig  to  contemplate 
with  composure  a  disbandment  of  our  organization  ? 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  establishing  the  position,  that  they  have 
no  claims  upon  the  confidence  of  the  country,  I  propose  now  to 
show  that  they  have  usurped  a  name,  to  which  they  have  still  less 
claim  than  to  your  support  or  esteem  ;  a  favorite  argument  with 
our  opponents,  more  especially  when  they  address  themselves  to 
that  portion  of  the  foreign  population  who  do  not  understand 
the  features  that  distinguish  the  two  parties,  is,  that  we,  the  Whigs, 
are  federalists,  and  monarchists,  who  are  not  friendly  to  the  institu- 
tions of  the  country,  and  are  incapable  of  administering  the  govern- 
ment. Nbw  I  take  it,  that  one  of  the  first  principles  of  democracy, 
consists  in  a  recognition  of  the  right  and  the  capacity  of  the  people 
for  self-government ;  let  us  see  then,  how  far  they  recognise  these 
two  great  fundamental  truths  ;  and  this  we  must  do  by  analyzing  the 
argument  above  mentioned,  by  which  they  have  acquired  such  a  pre- 
ponderance of  the  foreign  vote. 

I  think  it  will  approximate  the  reality,  if  we  suppose  there  are 
five  hundred  thousand  foreign  voters  in  the  United  States  ;  and  it 
will  be  by  no  means  an  extravagant  calculation,  to  put  four  hundred 
thousand  of  them  as  voting  with  the  Democratic  party,  and  one  hun- 
dred thousand  with  us ;  now  then,  strike  four  hundred  thousand  from 
their  poll,  and  one  hundred  thousand  from  ours,  and  what  an  im- 
mense majority  of  the  native  born  population  of  the  country  is  found 
on  the  side  of  those,  who  are  not  (according  to  their  statements) 
friendly  to  free  institutions,  and  are  incapable  of  self-government ! 
and  in  what  a  lamentable,  humiliating,  and  pitiable  a  condition  does  it 
present  us  before  the  world ! —  that  if  left  to  ourselves,  we  would  des- 
troy our  own,  blessed,  glorious,  free  institutions ;  that  we  would  be 
incapable  of  managing  our  own  affairs  ;  and  that  it  is  therefore 
necessary  to  call  in  the  foreign  population,  that  flows  to  us  from 
every  quarter  of  the  world,  who  never  enjoyed  freedom  at  home,  who 
2 

• 


IS  SPEECH    OF    THB 

are  of  necessity  in  a  large  degree  unfamiliar  with  our  constitution, 
many  with  our  language,  and  all  with  our  laws  and  institutions,  in 
order  to  perpetuate  our  form  of  government,  to  protect  our  liberties, 
and  hand  »down  the  rich  inheritance  of  freedom  to  our  children; 
and  this  is  the  starting  point  of  their  democracy. 

I  have  had  no  difficulty,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  solving  a  question  which 
has  puzzled  the  brains  of  thousands,  to-wit :  the  universal  and  anx- 
ious inquiry,  Why  is  it,  that  the  foreigners  all  vote  against  us  ? 
Sir,  it  is  the  charm  conveyed  to  their  senses  by  the  sound  of  Democ- 
racy; they  give  to  the  term  its  true  signification ;  they  know  of  no 
other  democracy  than  that  which  is  to  be  found  in  antagonism  to 
aristocracy,  or  to  despotism  and  the  power  of  the  sovereign  ;  there  is  no 
other  democracy  than  that  which  b  to  be  found  in  the  power  of  the 
people  ;  and  they  naturally  believe  when  they  come  among  us,  that 
democracy  on  this  side  of  the  water,  means  what  they  understood 
by  democracy  at  home.  Nothing  is  more  natural  than  that  they 
should  identify  themselves  with  those,  whom  they  suppose  are  strug- 
gling to  maintain  the  rights,  and  the  power  of  the  people  of  which 
they  themselves  compose  a  part ;  it  is  not  because  they  are  opposed 
to  us,  or  our  principles,  but  because  they  do  not  understand  the  na- 
ture of  the  questions  that  divide  us ;  and  when  they  have  bben  here 
long  enough  to  ascertain  the  truth,  like  other  men,  pride  of  opinion, 
pride  of  consistency,  and  old  habits  and  associations  bind  them  down 
to  the  party  with  which  they  have  been  accustomed  to  act. 

But  let  us  suppose  that  upon  the  arrival  of  some  intelligent,  well- 
meaning,  and  reflecting  foreigner  upon  our  shores,  he  were  to  inquire 
of  some  honest  Whig,  what  were  the  issues  that  divided  the  Whig 
and  Democratic  parties,  and  he  were  answered :  We  are  alike  devo- 
ted to  the  Union  and  the  constitution  ;  we  alike  rejoice  in  the  bless- 
ings of  free  government ;  we  are  alike  anxious  to  perpetuate  our 
institutions  ;  we  alike  recognize  the  power  and  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  ;  but  we  differ  in  our  views  as  to  the  best  mode  of  administer- 
ing the  government,  so  as  to  advance  the  general  prosperity  and  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  ;  as,  for  example,  wt>  think  it  wise  and  proper  that 
such  a  system  of  legislation  should  be  adopted,  as  will  supply  you 
and  your  countrymen,  your  wives  and  children,  as  well  as  our  own 
people  with  the  means  of  making  an  honest  livelihood,  by  their  labor; 
we  ask  for  a  system,  by  which  your  industry  will  be  protected,  by 
which  employment  will  be  furnished  ;  by  which  our  twenty-five  mil- 
lions of  people  shall  be  induced  to  give  a  preference  to  the  labor  of 


HON.  JOHN    M.  BOTTS.  19 

the  United  States,  so  far  as  they  can  supply  what  is  consumed,  to 
the  labor  of  Europe,  from  which  you  have  just  come,  to  make  your 
living,  and  improve  your  condition  ;  while  our  opponents,  the  Demo- 
crats, advocate  a  system,  by  which  our  people  are  encouraged  to 
trade  abroad  ;  to  import  from  Europe,  what  by  your  labor  you  could 
supply  at  home  ;  to  send  our  millions  to  the  workshops  of  foreign 
countries,  which  shuts  up  the  doors  of  our  own  shops,  turns  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  out  of  employment,  who  are  forced  to 
make  a  living  by  the  most  disreputable  means,  in  lieu  of  the  honest 
industry  they  have  sought  in  vain  to  employ. 

This  is  one  of  the  great  questions  which  divides  us.  He  would 
ask  :  Is  that  what  is  meant  by  Democracy  ?  Not  entirely  !  there  is 
another  point  on  which  we  differ.  We  think  that  with  a  country 
extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  with  agricultural  productions,  and  man- 
ufacturing interests  that  might  supply  the  world,  we  stand  in  more 
need  than  any  other  people  of  such  a  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments, as  will  afford  facilities  for  communication  from  one  section  of 
the  country  to  the  other,  and  of  supplying  the  demands  of  commerce, 
by  removing  obstructions  to  the  navigation  of  our  great  water 
courses,  that  bear  on  their  bosoms,  a  large  portion  of  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  We  think  if  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  four 
thousand  miles  in  extent,  should  be  obstructed  by  a  sand-bar,  that 
it  should  be  removed,  rather  than  lose  the  benefit  of  that  wonderful 
natural  channel  of  commerce  ;  we  believe  that  our  lakes  and  harbors 
should  be  rendered  safe  from  the  perils  of  the  tempest ;  we  believe 
that  the  wisdom  of  our  forefathers  confered  on  the  general  govern- 
ment the  power  to  do  these  things  ;  we  believe  that  the  same  author- 
ity which  grants  to  Congress  the  power  to  appropriate  money  for  the 
erection  of  lighthouses,  to  warn  the  storm-tossed  mariner,  of  the 
treacherous  sand -bank,  also  gives  to  Congress,  the  power  to  remove 
the  sand-bank  itself;  we  believe,  furthermore,  lhat  as  the  general  gov- 
ernment has  assumed  control  over  our  navigable  streams,  by  exacting 
tonnage  duties,  as  well  as  duties  on  all  imports,  passing  over  these 
great  national  highways,  that  it  is  in  duty  bound  to  improve  these  wa- 
ter courses  and  keep  them  in  good  repair,  or  cease  to  charge  tolls  upon 
them  ;  in  short,  we  believe,  that  the  government  belongs  to  the 
people,  and  ought  to  be  administered  rather  more  for  their  benefit 
than  for  the  officious  office  holders  who  live  upon  the  public  crib,  and 
that  such  a  policy  should  be  adopted,  as  will  best  promote  the  great 


20  SPEECH   OF   THE 

industrial  interests  of  the  nation,  no  matter  in  what  branch  of  enter- 
prise it  may  be  engaged,  whether  agricultural,  manufacturing,  com- 
mercial or  mechanical.  Not  so  with  our  opponents  ;  they  believe 
that  government  was  not  instituted  for  any  such  purposes ;  that  the 
government  has  no  concern  with  the  interests  of  the  people ;  that 
the  government  should  take  care  of  itself,  and  let  the  people  take 
care  of  themselves ;  that  it  has  no  authority  to  protect  the  industry 
and  labor  of  its  own  people ;  no  authority  to  improve  the  navigation 
of  our  water  courses  ;  no  authority  to  furnish  these  facilities  to  com- 
merce ;  no  authority  to  protect  the  property  of  our  people,  or  render 
secure  the  lives  of  our  seamen,  and  travelers  on  these  public  high- 
ways, by  the  removal  of  whatever  might  endanger  the  one  or  the 
other  ;  but  that  the  general  government  should  receive  the  tolls, 
while  the  States  should  repair  the  roads,  or  leave  the  snags,  logs, 
sand-bars,  and  beaches  just  as  you  find  them  ;  and  they  profess  to 
believe  that  it  is  very  Anti-Democratic,  that  the  people  should  be 
indulged  in  any  such  security  either  to  life  or  to  property,  as  to  take 
them  out  of  the  way.  This,  then,  is  another  of  the  tests  of  what 
they  call  Democracy  on  this  side  of  the  water  ;  but  there  is  still 
another. 

We  have  a  great  land  fund  belonging  to  the  general  government » 
most  of  which  formerly  belonged  to  the  several  States  originally 
composing  the  Union,  which  they  transferred  to  the  general  gov- 
ernment, for  the  common  benefit  of  all ;  the  balance  has  been  since 
acquired  by  conquest,  or  by  purchase,  for  which  all  the  States  paid 
in  fair  proportion.  This  fund  has  for  some  years  past  been  used 
by  demagogues  in  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  making  political  cap- 
ital for  themselves,  by  voting  it  away  in  large  quantities  to  the  new 
States,  while  all  interest  was  withheld  from  the  old.  We  have 
asked  for  an  equal  distribution  among  all  the  States,  if  it  is  to  be 
appropriated  to  any ;  that  we  should  all  share,  and  share  alike 
This  the  Democratic  party  opposes,  while  year  after  year,  millions  of 
acres  are  voted  away  to  such  of  the  new  States,  as  certain  of  their 
leaders  imagine  can  be  brought  to  their  support  for  a  Presidential 
nomination. 

These  are  the  questions  that  divide  us,  and  all  who  advocate  the 
one  system,  are  called  Democrats,  and  those  who  advocate  the  other 
are  called  Whigs. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  he  were  an  intelligent  man  to  whom  this 
true  definition  of  Whiggery  and  Democracy  was  explained,  do  you 


HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS.  o-j 

not  think  he  would  be  staggered  to  tell  why  they  and  not  we  should 
be  called  the  Democratic  party  :  Would  he  not  be  puzzled  to  find 
one  single  principle  of  democracy  in  their  whole  creed?  And  yet  every 
man  of  candor  and  intelligence  I  think  must  admit,  that  these  are  the 
questions,  and  only  questions,  since  the  settlement  of  the  bank  -ques- 
tion, which  have  divided  the  two  parties  ;  and  if  they  were  fairly  un- 
derstood, I  cannot  persuade  myself,  that  the  Democratic  party  could 
command  one  tithe  of  the  vote  it  now  boasts,  either  from  the  foreign 
born,  or  native  population  of  the  country. 

The  Democracy  claim  to  be  the  progressive  party,  too  !  and  seek 
to  disseminate  the  impression  that  we  are  the  "  standstill  partyj' 
or,  as  some  call  it,  the  u  do-nothing  party."  Surely  the  internal 
improvement  party  is  not  the  stand-still  party  ;  the  party  that  is  for 
building  up  manufactures  of  every  sort,  of  encouraging  the  mechanic 
arts,  of  giving  employment  to  all,  and  taking  care  of  all,  is  not  the 
stand-still  party  ;  it  is  they  who  oppose  this  system — they  who  will 
'not  progress — they  are  the  party  to  whom  that  cognomen  should  be 
applied. 

But  there  are  two  kinds  of  progress  through  life — the  one  rational, 
the  other  destructive  !  When  I  read  an  account  of  some  dashing, 
high-spirited  young  fellow,  whose  horse  has  run  away  with  him,  and 
dashed  his  vehicle  to  pieces  and  nearly  broken  his  neck,  I  cannot 
but  regard  it  as  progress  ;  but  it  is  something  of  Democratic  pro- 
gress ,  rather  of  the  destructive  order.  How  much  better  it  would 
have  been,  to  have  kept  the  reins  in  hand  and  the  horse  in  subjection 
Sometimes  we  read  of  a  steamboat  that  is  in  such  haste  to  make 
rapid  progress  through  the  water,  that  she  gets  up  too  much  steam, 
and  away  goes  boat,  cargo,  crew,  and  passengers  in  the  air.  This 
is  certainly  making  rapid  progress,  but  not  of  the  rational  kind — 
it  smacks  of  Democratic  progress  ;  it  is  a  species  of  Democratic  pro- 
gressive, go-ahead  cleverness.  It  was  the  same  spirit  of  headlong, 
Democratic  progress  that  precipitated  the  New  Haven  cars  into  Nor- 
walk  river,  with  such  terrible  and  calamitous  results.  So  it  will  be,  I 
fear,  with  Democratic  progress,  in  affairs  of  government,  when  we 
undertake  the  only  progress  they  propose,  which  is  to  neglect  our 
own  affairs,  disregard  our  own  interests,  and  go  roaming  over  the 
world,  in  imitation  of  ancient  Rome,  plundering  our  neighbors  of 
their  lawful  property,  and  in  imitation  of  Don  Quixote,  righting 
the  wrongs  of  all  mankind.  I  would  rather  have  a  rational,  conser- 
vative driver,  who  would  control  his  horse  ;  a  rational,  conservative 


22  SPEECH    OF    THB 

firemen,  who  would  not  put  on  too  much  steam  ;  and  a  rational,  con- 
servative engineer,  who  would  co'ntrol  his  locomotive,  and  travel 
witi  rather  less  speed,  and  more  safety  ;  so,  in  like  manner  I  would 
prefer  a  sound,  safe,  rational  conservative  Whig,  at  the  helm  of  gov- 
ernment, who  would  attend  to  our  business  at  home,  progressing 
rapidly,  but  steadily  and  safely — extending  our  commerce,  increas- 
ing our  agriculture,  enlarging  our  manufactures,  and  securing  peace, 
plenty,  independence  and  happiness  to  all  our  people  ;  and  if  we  do 
not  have  such  an  engineer  to  guide  our  great  national  locomotive, 
who  can  tell  what  catastrophe  may  not  sooner  or  later  overtake  and 
overwhelm  us  ? 

Sir,  there  is  an  old  Latin  maxim -that  is  full  of  meaning  and  good 
sense — "  Confir  mat  usum,  qui  tollit  abusum  ;"  he  confirms  the  use, 
who  destroys  the  abuse.  We  strengthen  and  aid  progress  by  res- 
training its  abuse;  and  upon  this  principle,  I  hope  to  see  the  conser- 
vative Whig  party  always  act.  Let  individual  citizens,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  their  personal  rights,  (taking  care  not  to  infringe  the  laws 
of  their  country,)  do  as  they  like,  on  their  own  responsibility  ;  but  let 
the  government  take  care  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances, 
to  watch  with  the  most  jealous  vigilance  the  faith  and  integrity  of 
the  nation ;  let  them  guard  it,  as  they  would  "  the  apple  of  their 
eye." 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  often  asked  why  am  I  a  Whig  ?  My  answer 
is,  because  I  am  a  Democrat ;  because  I  believe  there  is  more  sound 
Democracy  in  the  Whig  ranks,  than  in  the  ranks  of  the  other  party, 
and  because  I  go  for  the  principle,  and  not  the  name  or  the  sound  of 
Democracy  ;  how  could  I  be  anything  else  but  a  Democrat  ?  Losing 
both  father  and  mother  when  I  was  but  a  child  nine  years  old,  (by 
the  burning  of  the  theatre  in  Richmond,)  I  was  soon  after  sent  off 
to  a  boarding  school,  and  from  that  day  to  this,  have  been  mixed  up 
with  the  people,  sympathizing  in  all  their  wrongs,  contending  through- 
out my  manhood,  for  all  their  rights,  and  struggling  for  their  political 
equality,  despising  at  all  times  every  thing  that  savored  of  aristoc- 
racy and  pride,  whether  of  birth  or  fortune,  ready  to  resist  oppres- 
sion whenever  and  wherever  I  met  it ;  brought  up  in  the  midst  of 
the  people  and  one  of  themselves,  how  could  I  be,  in  my  nature, 
habits,  associations  and  sympathies,  anything  but  a  Democrat  ?  And 
yet,  suppose  I  should  desire  from  any  cause,  to  associate  myself 
with  the  Democratic  party,  what  are  the  tests  by  which  I  would  be 
tried  ?  To  what  doctrines  or  principles  would  I  have  to  subscribe, 


HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS.  23 

to  gain  an  admittance  into  their  ranks  and  fellowship  with  them  ? 
They  surely  could  not  reject  me  on  the  ground  that  I  was  in  favor 
of  the  principle  of  protection,  for  that  would  have  excluded  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson and  General  Jackson  from  the  Democratic  party,  as  it  would 
now  exclude  many  thousands  of  their  present  friends,  including  Mr. 
Buchanan,  who,  with  Silas  Wright,  voted  for  the  tariff  of  1842,  and 
without  whose  votes,  it  could  never  have  become  a  law  ;  it  could 
not  be,  on  the  ground  that  I  was  in  favor  of  internal  improvements, 
for  that  would  exclude  Gen.  Cass  and  many  of  the  prominent  Nor- 
thern and  Western  men  of  the  Democracy;  and  it  was  but  the  other 
day,  that  here  in  this  very  hall,  two  members  of  Mr.  Pierce's  Demo- 
cratic Cabinet,  made  speeches  in  favor  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  as  a 
government  measure.  What  then  would  be  the  test  ?  Why  this, 
and  this  only:  If  I  could  consent  to  vote  for  the  democratic  nomi- 
nee, and  thus  secure  to  them  the  spoils  of  office,  I  should  be  con- 
sidered as  good  a  Democrat  as  the  best  of  them. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  said  I  was  a  Democrat,  not  a  Locofoco  ; 
I  am  led  by  no  false  lights,  but  a  Democrat  in  the  true  sense  and 
signification  of  the  word.  I  desire  to  furnish  additional  proof  of  it ; 
not  for  any  personal  advantage  that  1  expect  or  desire  to  derive 
from  it,  but  because  I  am  generally  regarded  as  the  most  stubborn 
and  inveterate,  and  ultra  of  the  Whig  party,  and  if  (being  such) 
I  can  relieve  myself  of  the  charge  of  federalism,  it  should  go  far  to 
relieve  the  party  of  which  I  am  an  humble  member,  of  a  similar 
imputation. 

It  has  not  been  long  since  I  was  a  member  of  a  convention  in 
Virginia,  for  making  a  constitution  for  the  State  ;  and  according  to 
my  views,  there,  was  the  place,  and  that  the  occasion  to  test  the 
soundness  of  Democracy  ;  that  was  the  place  and  then  the  time  to 
establish  the  rights,  and  the  power  of  the  people.  I  knew  of  no 
other  Democracy  than  that  which  was  opposed  to  an  aristocracy  or  a 
despotism.  In  that  convention  I  strenuously  resisted  a  proposition  to 
take  power  from  the  people,  and  confer  it  upon  property.  I  went  for 
protection  to  property  and  representation  to  men,  and  I  went  against 
the  wishes  of  the  whole  of  Eastern  Virginia,  which  was  the  section 
in  which  I  lived,  and  a  part  of  which  I  represented.  I  warmly 
advocated  universal  suffrage  without  property  qualification ;  I  voted 
for,  and  advocated  the  right  of  the  people  to  elect  their  own  officers 
of  every  description,  judges,  sheriffs,  clerks,  constables,  and  all ;  I 
went  for  taking  all  power  out  of  the  hands  of  the  few,  and  conferring 


24  SPEECH   OF  THE 

it  on  the  many ;  I  went  for  taking  it  out  of  the  hands  of  the  politi- 
cians and  conferring  it  on  the  people  ;  and  it  was  on  my  motion,  that 
one  half  of  the  entire  capitation  tax  of  the  State,  was  forever  appro- 
priated to  the  cause  of  education,  through  the  operation  of  free 
schools  ;  and  in  my  ignorance  and  simplicity,  I  thought  I  was  going 
for  Democracy  in  its  genuine  purity,  but  I  was  mistaken.  If 
Virginia  Democracy  was  sound,  then  these  principles  were  federal  j 
my  course  met  with  the  condemnation  of  the  Democracy.  I  sacri- 
ficed my  election  to  Congress  to  sustain  these  pillars  and  corner 
stones  of  true  Democratic  faith.  (I  may  be  pardoned  for  introdu- 
cing here  a  few  short  extracts  from  a  speech  made  in  the  convention 
on  the  basis  of  representation,  which  was  not  at  hand  when  I  made 
this  speech.)  I  said  ; 

u  This  is  a  government  of  persons,and  not  of  property ;  and  before 
I  would  vote  for  the  principle  that  property  should  have  more  power 
in  this  government  than  men,  I  would  vote  for  a  monarchy.  I  do 
not  know,  if  I  were  a  large  property  holder,  a  John  Jacob  Astor, 
what  I  might  be  tempted  to  do — perhaps  I  may  not  know  myself. 
Every  man  loves  power  more  or  less,  and  I  might  fall ;  but  I  belong 
to  that  class  of  persons  who  constitute  a  large  majority  of  the  citi- 
zens of  this  Commonwealth  who  have  little  property  to  protect ;  and 
I  will  not  give  power  to  any  man's  wealth  over  me  and  mine.  But, 
while  I  will  afford  to  the  property  holder  all  the  protection  he  de- 
mands, I  too  have  some  few  demands  to  make  upon  him  for  the 
preservation  of  my  rights  and  the  rights  of  the  large  class  of  citizens 
to  which  I  belong.  Wealth  has  already  too  much  influence  in  every 
respect,  without  engrafting  it  as  a  constitutional  principle. 

"  Why,  in  what  age  do  we  live  ?  Are  we  in  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  when  the  school  master  is  abroad  all  over  the 
face  of  the  civilized  globe,  when  men  are  asserting  their  own  rights 
and  throwing  off  the  shackles  of  despotism,  when  thrones  are  tot- 
tering and  tumbling  into  the  dust,  before  popular  freedom  and 
popular  rights  ?  Is  it  here  for  us,  here  in  the  Old  Dominion,  in  this 
old  Commonwealth  of  Virginia,  to  engraft  upon  our  Constitution  a 
principle  that  property  is  entitled  to  more  weight,  to  more  represen- 
tation in  our  government  than  men  ?  If  I  stood  alone  out  of  the 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  members  upon  this  floor,  I  should  stand 
perfectly  erect  among  my  constituents,  slave-holding  and  property- 
holding  constituents,  and  say  to  them,  I  trample  such  a  principle 
in  the  dust." 


HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS.  25 

"  The  next  clause  in  that  bill  of  rights  reads  : 

"  *  That  all  power  is  vested  in,  and  consequently  derived  from  the 
people.' 

"  Not  so  with  this  enlightened  age  in  which  we  now  live.  Free 
principles  have  taken  a  retrogressive  movement.  The  principles  of 
freedom  that  are  extending  themselves  throughout  the  civilized  globe 
have  been  checked,  and  here,  in  this  consecrated  spot — in  this  Con- 
vention of  Virginia  sages — in  this  old  Commonwealth  of  Virginia, 
the  principle  is  about  to  be  subverted,  and  power  is  to  be  given  to 
property ,  and  not  to  persons.  And  this  bill  of  rights  goes  on  to 
declare  "  that  when  any  government  shall  be  found  inadequate  to 
carry  out  those  purposes,  a  majority  " — of  what  ?  of  property  ? 
No  ! — "  a  majority  of  the  community."  Does  the  word  community 
mean  property  ?  "A  majority  of  the  community  has  the  indefea- 
sible, inalienable,  indubitable  right  to  reform,  alter,  or  abolish  in  such 
a  manner  as  shall  be  deemed  most  conducive  to  the  public  weal." 
There  is  the  power.  There  is  where  the  power  of  government  is 
lodged  by  this  declaration  of  fundamental  principles.  But  it  goes 
on  to  say  "  that  no  man,  or  set  of  men,  are  entitled  to  exclusive  or 
separate  emoluments  pr  privileges  from  the  community."  This  is 
what  your  bill  of  rights  asserts,  as  to  the  rights  of  property  and 
power  of  persons. 

"  Is  this  representation  that  you  proposse  to  give  to  wealth  not  a 
privilege  ?  Is  the  representation  that  you  propose  to  give  the  richest 
portion  of  this  Commonwealth  over  the  poorer  parts  of  this  Com- 
monwealth no  privilege  to  wealth  ?  Then  carry  the  principle  out 
and  give  to  the  richer  counties  of  this  Commonwealth  a  greater 
political  power  than  to  the  poorer  counties  ;  then  carry  your  princi- 
ple still  further  out,  and  apply  it  equally  to  the  rich,  as  well  as  to  the 
poor  man,  and  give  him  power  also  equal  to  his  wealth  ;  if  the 
principle  is  sound,  it  comes  to  this. 

"  I  would  here  remark  that  I  feel  most  proud  of  the  opportunity 
and  of  the  privilege  of  standing  up  here  as  one  of  the  champions — 
feeble  and  humble  as  I  am — of  the  power  of  the  people  against  the 
power  of  property.  I  will  give  property  its  protection  ;  I  will  give 
no  more." 

Upon  the  subject  of  taxation,  I  said  : 

"  Well,  now,  sir,  I  want  to  say  something  upon  this  subject  of 
taxation.  I  have  proposed  an  ad  valorem  system  of  taxation,  and  to 
my  mind  there  is  but  one  system  of  equality  in  taxation,  and  that  is 


26  SPEECH    OF    THE 

to  make  every  man  contribute  to  the  support  of  government  accor- 
ding to  his  means  and  his  ability.  Our  present  system  operates 
most  injuriously  and  oppressively  upon  a  large  portion  of  the  com- 
monwealth. If  ten  men  combine  together  to  form  a  common  com- 
munity, and  if  each  of  those  ten  men  has  $10,000  of  capital  and 
one  thinks  proper  to  invest  his  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  judg- 
ment, in  houses  and  lots,  the  second  invests  his  in  slave  property, 
the  third  invests  his  in  merchandize,  the  fourth  invests  his  in  manu- 
facturing stock,  the  fifth  in  bank  stock,  the  sixth  in  railroad  stock, 
the  seventh  in  drugs  and  medicines,  the  eighth  in  race-horses,  and 
the  ninth  and  tenth  in  unproductive  lands,  waiting  for  a  rise,  or  in 
any  other  species  of  property  you  think  proper  to  imagine,  my 
opinion  is  that  the  only  fair  and  equitable  system  that  can  be 
adopted  is  to  make  these  ten  men  pay  equal  sums  upon  their  res- 
pective capital  to  the  support  of  the  government.  I  know  no  rea- 
son why  one  should  pay  all  and  the  other  none.  I  know  no  reason 
why  I  should  be  compelled  to  pay  a  tax  upon  the  watch  in  my 
pocket  that  may  be  worth  sixty  or  seventy-five,  or  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  and  another  gentleman  who  has  chosen  to  lay  out  his 
$500  or  $1000  on  a  diamond  breast  pin  or  ring  should  be  exempted 
from  taxation.  I  know  no  reason  why  the  poor  man,  who  has  for 
convenience  or  the  convenience  of  his  family,  a  common  clock  upon 
his  mantlepiece,  that  cost  him  from  three  to  five  or  ten  dollars, 
should  be  required  to  pay  a  tax  upon  it,  whilst  the  ornament  upon  his 
wealthy  neighbor's  mantlepice,  that  cost  thousands,  pays  no  tax  at 
all.  Sir,  I  despise  demagogueism.  I  am  no  demagogue.  I  am  no 
flatterer  of  the  people,  but  my  sympathies  are  with  the  masses  of  the 
people.  I  am  one  of  the  masses.  It  is  implanted  in  me  by  my 
creator  as  a  part  of  my  nature.  I  know  no  reason  why  the  poor  man 
in  the  country  who  has  a  horse  which  is  necessary  for  the  suste- 
nance and  support  of  his  family,  should  be  required  to  pay  a  tax 
upon  that  horse,  whilst  his  wealthy  neighbor  in  the  city  who  has  a 
cow,  perhaps  worth  ten  times  as  much  as  the  horse,  should  pay  no 
tax.  I  am  for  an  equal  system  of  taxation  upon  the  rich  and  the 
poor  alike:  Let  those  who  have  the  most  means  contribute  the  most 
money  for  the  support  of  the  government.  And  from  what  class 
comes  the  chief  objection  to  this  system  of  ad  valorem  taxation  ? 
You  will  find  it  to  be  from  the  large  property-holders,  and  why  ?  Is 
it  because  they  wish  to  hold  property  without  paying  the  necessary 
tax  upon  it.  Or  is  it  because  they  desire  to  throw  the  burthen  of 


HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS.  27 

taxation  on  those  classes  that  can't  as  well  afford  to  pay  it?  In  either 
case  I  am  for  enforcing  it." 

At  another  point,  I  said : 

"  If  there  is  any  great  object  above  all  others  that  I  desire  to  see 
established  by  this  Convention  now  about  to  adopt  a  constitution  for 
the  State,  it  is  so  see  political  equality,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  estab- 
lished in  this  land.  Talk  about  equality  among  men  !  There  is  but 
one  species  of  equality  that  man  can  control.  Man  has  no  control 
over  the  nature  of  his  fellow-man.  He  is  made  by  his  Creator,  and 
until  you  can  change  the  decrees  of  the  Most  High,  making  the  pig- 
my equal  to  the  giant,  until  you  can  make  the  idiot  equal  to  the 
sage,  until  you  can  make  the  man  of  feeble,  delicate  constitution^ 
equal  to  the  strong,  hearty  and  robust  man,  until  you  can  make  the 
pauper  equal  to  the  millionaire  in  his  influence,  you  can  establish  no 
general  equality  among  men.  But  you  can  establish  political  equal' 
ity.  That  is  your  business  and  your  duty,  and  that  you  are  partic- 
ularly bound  to  do,  because  the  people  in  their  majesty  demand  it, 
and  will  have  it.  And  they  are  right  never  to  rest  satisfied  for  one 
moment  until  they  have  obtained  it.  And  I  will  give  it  to  them 
while  I  have  the  power  to  do  it."  BANCROFT  UIBKAK 

Here  then,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  the  foundation,  this  is  the  substra- 
tum of  my  democracy,  and  he  who  does  not  subscribe  to  it  is,  in  my 
judgment,  hostile  to  the  principles  of  true  democracy,  or  does  not 
understand  their  import  and  value. 

Well  sir,  shortly  after  the  expression  of  these  sentiments,  I  went 
before  the  people  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  competition  with  a 
gentlemen  who  took  the  opposite  grounds,  and  was  warm  in  his 
advocacy  of  a  mixed  basis,  which  gave  more  power  to  property  than 
to  persons  ;  by  which  seven  thousand  dollars  in  taxes  was  to  balance 
the  voice  of  twelve  thousand  persons.  My  vote  on  this  question 
which  alone  defeated  this  odious  proposition  was  made  a  promi- 
nent feature  in  the  contest;  and,  although  my  competitor  was 
a  secessionist,  which  met  with  little  or  no  favor  in  the  dis- 
trict, yet  the  whole  entire  strength  of  the  Democratic  party 
was  cast  against  me ;  my  principles  thus  laid  down,  did  not  tally 
with  their  views  of  Democracy,  because  I  was  not  for  securing  to 
them  the  power  and  the  spoils,  by  voting  for  the  Democratic  nomi- 
nee of  the  Baltimore  convention.  Am  I  not  then  justified  in  saying, 
I  have  found  public  life  not  only  a  laborious  and  unprofitable,  but 
most  thankless  occupation,  and  that  many  of  those  for  whose  inter- 


28  SPEECH  OF  THE 

est  and  welfare  I  have  devoted  the  energies  of  both  body  and  mind 
for  twenty  years  and  upwards,  were  prompt  to  surrender  their  own 
great  inestimable  natural  rights,  for  which  I  have  always  struggled, 
to  the  dictation  of  party,  and  to  the  vulgar  prejudice  of  hollow, 
deceptive,  and  unmeaning  party  names  ? 

I  have  thus,  Mr.  Chairman,  endeavored  to  contrast  our  principles 
with  those  of  our  opponents,  and  our  claims  to  confidence  with 
theirs.  I  have  endeavored  to  demonstrate  that  Democracy  in  this 
country,  means  anything  but  Democracy  in  the  old  country,  and 
that  here  it  is  a  party,  indebted  solely  to  Us  name  for  its  strength, 
and  I  believe  religiously,  that  if  we  had  their  name  with  our  princi- 
ples, or  they  had  our  principles  with  their  name,  there  could  be  but 
one  party  in  the  country  ;  you  could  not  get  up  an  opposition  to  it. 

Look  at  the  course  pursued  by  the  President  of  their  choice 
You  will  recollect  what  I  said  here  in  Newark  last  fall  about  Free- 
Soilism  and  his  New  Boston  speech — you  all  know  that  his  election 
was  demanded  as  a  triumph  of  the  Union  party  of  the  country, 
against  all  factions  and  disorganizing  agitators ;  and  here,  after  his 
election,  the  triumph  was  claimed  for  those  who  had  stood  by  the 
Union,  and  the  compromise  against  the  hostility  of  the  secessionists 
and  the  Free  Soilers,  and  yet  Mr.  Pierce  has  done  more  i  n  the  brief 
space  that  he  has  been  in  office,  to  give  influence  and  importance  to 
the  secessionists  and  disunionists  of  the  South,  than  five  hundred 
Nashville  Conventions  could  have  done,  and  he  has  done  more  to 
revive  the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  Free-Soil  party  in  the  North,  than 
five  thousand  such  men  as  Mr.  Seward  could  do  in  a  life  time  ;  by  de- 
positing all  the  influence  and  emoluments  of  office  in  their  hands, 
and  making  their  views  the  only  passports  to  favor  ;  and  there  is  but 
one  remedy  left,  and  that  is  the  action  of  the  U.  S.  Senate  next 
winter.  If  they  confirm  all  these  appointments  of  seceders  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Buffalo  platform  party  on  the  other,  then  indeed, 
we  may  tremble  for  the  consequence  ;  we  can  only  hope  that  they 
will  draw  certain  lines,  and  by  the  co-operation  of  the  Whigs  and 
conservative  Democrats,  the  evil  may  be  averted  by  rejecting  all 
those  who  come  within  those  lines. 

Mr.  Pierce  in  his  letter  to  Major  Lally,  written  on  the  eve 
of  the  meeting  of  the  National  Convention,  used  this  remarkable 
language.  I  say  remarkable,  as  connected  with  his  subsequent 
cource  of  conduct ;  he  says — I  quote  from  memory  but  believe  I 
give  his  identical  words  : — 


HON.  JOHN  H.  BOTTS.  29 

"  If  we,  of  the  North,  who  have  stood  up  for  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  South,  are  to  be  sacrificed  to  any  time  serving  policy, 
then  the  hopes  of  the  Union  and  the  Democracy  must  sink  together." 
We  must  leave  it  to  those  of  the  North  who  have  stood  up  for  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  South,  to  say  whether  they  have  been 
sacrificed  by  the  author  of  this  declaration  to  a  time  serving  policy 
or  not.  I  think,  sir,  in  despite  of  his  prediction,  we  shall  be  able  to 
arrest  him  in  his  work  of  sinking  the  Union,  but  he  is  sure  to  sink 
the  Democracy,  and  the  sooner  he  does  it  the  better,  though  I  must 
do  him  the  justice  to  say  that  few  could  have  accomplished  so  much 
towards  it  in  the  same  time. 

There  is  one  subject  upon  which  I  wish  to  make  an  observation  or 
two,  and  I  will  conclude  what  I  fear  has  been  too  much  extended. 

Very  much  to  my  surprise,  I  saw  It  mentioned  a  few  days  ago  in 
a  Whig  press  of  the  city  of  New  York,  that  "  all  the  old  issues  upon 
which  such  fierce  battles  have  hitherto  been  waged,  are  in  the  deep 
ocean  buried,"  and  "  that  the  Sub-Treasury  has  been  so  modified, 
as  to  be  equally  acceptable  to  both  parties."  This  was  a  most 
astounding  piece  of  information  to  be  derived  from  a  Whig  paper, 
I  wish  the  editor  had  gone  on  to  inform  us,  when,  where,  and  how 
it  had  been  so  modified.  I  was  not  aware  that  it  had  been  touched, 
and  I  do  know  that  it  has  not  been  in  legal  and  practical  operation 
since  its  enactment.  We  all  know  that  Mr.  Gruthrie  attempted 
shortly  after  bis  acceptance  to  office!,  to  carry  it  into  effect,  ac- 
cording to  the  provisions  it  contained,  and  he  found  it  utterly 
impracticable  and  absurd  to  attempt  it,  and  he  abandoned  it,  and 
fell  back  in  the  old  beaten  path  by  which  its  main  features  are 
constantly  violated. 

The  law  provides  that  all  officers  and  other  persons  charged 
with  the  safe  keeping,  transfer  and  disbursement  of  the  public 
moneys,  who  shall  use  by  way  of  investment  in  any  kind  of 
property  or  merchandize,  or  shall  loan  with  or  without  interest, 
OR  SHALL  DEPOSIT  IN  ANY  BANK,  or  SHALL  EX- 
CHANGE FOR  OTHER  FUNDS,  any  portion  of  the  public 
moneys  entrusted  to  him,  &c.,  &c.,  it  shall  be  deemed  and  adjudged 
to  be  an  embezzlement,  which  is  thereby  declared  a  felony ;  and 
any  officer  or  agent  of  the  United  States,  and  all  persons  advising 
or  participating  in  such  act,  being  convicted  thereof  before  any 
Court  of  the  United  States,  of  competent  jurisdiction,  shall  be 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  six  months, 


30  SPEECH   OF   THE 

nor  more  than  ten  years,  and   to  a  fine  equal  to  the  amount  em- 
bezzled." 

This  is  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  Sub-Treasury  law.  Well 
it  so  happened  that  when  1  was  in  Congress,  in  1848,  I  had  two 
small  claims  to  collect  from  the  Treasury  department  for  one  of 
my  constituents,  and  on  presenting  the  claims  to  the  Register,  I 
received  in  payment  two  checks  on  the  bank  of  the  Metropolis, 
numbering  1212  and  1213,  showing  how  often  similar  checks  had 
been  given  before  during  the  two  years  and-a-half  that  the  Sub- 
Treasury  had  been  in  operation.  Here  is  an  exact  transcript  of 
one  of  the  checks,  a  copy  of  which  I  preserved.  It  reads  thus  : 

No.  1212.  TREASURY  DEPARTMENT, 

REGISTER'S  OFFICE,  April  15th,  1848. 

CASHIER  OF  THE  BANK  OF  THE  METROPOLIS. 
Pay  out  of  the  funds  placed  in  your  hands,  for  the  payment  of 
unclaimed  dividends  on  the  stock  of  the  United  States,  to  Hon. 
John  M.  liotts,  Attorney,  or  order,  seventeen  dollars  54-100,  being 
the  amount  due  John  and  Thomas  Gilbert,  and  returned  unclaimed 
from  the  late  loan  office  of  Virginia,  and  for  which  I  have  taken 
a  receipt.  Lib.  1.  fol.  67. 

$17  54-100.  Signed. 

DANIEL  GRAHAM,  Register. 

As  you  may  imagine,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  was  not  a  little  surprised 
at  receiving  these  checks,  containing  on  their  face  such  evident 
violation  of  the  Sub-Treasury  act,  which  subjected  all  who  ad- 
vised or  participated  in  the  act,  to  fine  and  imprisonment,  arid  on 
my  way  to  thecapitol,  I  met  with  the  Post  Master  General,  (Mr. 
Johnson,)  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  (Mr.  Mason.)  I  showed 
them  the  two  checks,  and  remarked  to  them  in  a  jocular  way,  I 
want  you  (they  were  on  their  way  to  a  meeting  of  the  Cabinet,) 
to  deliver  a  message  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  forme  ;  tell 
him  I  have  these  checks,  by  which  it  appears  this  law  has  been 
thus  violated  in  his  department  and  under  his  eye,  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  thirteen  times,  and  that  while  1  am  a  political 
opponent,  I  am  a  liberal  one,  and  that  I  will  give  him  his  choice 
of  either  one  of  three  modes  of  atonement  for  this  offence  against 
the  laws  of  the  country. 

He  may  either  be  impeached  for  a  misdemeanor,  and  broke  of 


HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS.  3  1 

his  office ;  or  he  may  be  indicted  before  a  grand  jury  of  the 
District,  and  be  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  six  hundred  years  ;  or 
he  may  send 'in  another  communication  to  Congress,  confessing 
that  his  Sub-Treasury  scheme  is  an  arrant,  impracticable,  impudent 
humbug,  and  I  don't  care  which  of  the  three  he  takes. 

After  a  few  days  reflection,  I  concluded  that  it  was  my  duty  to 
bring  this  matter  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  and  I  accord- 
ingly addressed  a  communication  to  Mr.  Walker,  calling  his  at- 
tention to  the  provisions  of  the  law,  and  of  this  violation  of  his- 
obligations,  and  stated  that  a  sense  of  public  duty,  no  less  than 
justice  to  him,  induced  me  to  seek  such  explanation,  as  it  might 
be  in  his  power  to  furnish.  In  answer  to  that  letter  I  received 
a  long  communication  from  the  department,  occupying  four 
closely  written  pages  of  foolscap  paper,  which  is  worthy  of  pres- 
ervation in  any  gentleman's  literary  cabinet ;  which  for  its  logic 
was  rich,  racy  and  unique.  Well,  what  explanation  do  you  think 
he  gave  ?  Why  he  set  out  with  a  denial  that  he  had  any  money 
in  bank,  although  the  check  read,  "  P^y  out  of  the  funds  placed  in 
your  hands,"  and  he  furnished  various  accompanying  letters  to- 
show  that  he  had  no  money  in  the  bank,  and  I  don't  care  whether 
he  had  or  not,  if  he  had  not,  he  exchanged  funds  with  the  bank^ 
which  equally  violated  the  law.  He  then  undertook  to  show  that 
it  was  no  transaction  between  the  department  aod  the  bank,  for  the 
cashier  of  the  bank  had  an  unquestionable  right  to  buy  these  checks 
of  me,  thus  making  it  a  transaction  between  the  bank  and  myself. 
Then  he  takes  the  ground  that  while  he  had  no  knowledge  until 
since  the  date  of  these  checks,  that  the  Register  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  making  his  payments  in  that  way,  arid  while  he  has  no 
power  to  prevent  the  purchase  of  these  dividends,  (or  checks,)  by 
the  banks,  yet  he  has  directed  the  Register  not  to  do  so  any  more, 
because  it  looks  like  a  violation  of  the  law.  The  Secretary  then 
endeavors  to  get  himself  out  of  the  scrape  by  sending  Mr.  Polk 
instead  of  himself  to  the  Penitentiary,  as  he  says,  the  Register  is 
not  appointed  by,  nor  responsible  to  him,  (although  he  has  just 
directed  him  not  to  da  so  again,)  and  lastly,  he  winds  up  with 
saying  that  it  could  not  under  any  circumstances  be  a  violation  of 
the  law,  inasmuch  as  the  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  Metropolis  had 
expired  in  1844;  that  it  had  never  been  re-chartered,  and  therefore 
it  was  no  bank  at  all.  [Great  laughter.]  When  I  go  home  I  will 
send  a  copy  of  this  correspondence  to  my  friend  Congar,  who  shall 


32  SPEECH  OF  THE 

have  the  credit  of  being  the  first  to  lay  it  before  the  public  ;  (it  is 
now  attached  as  an  appendix.)  You  will  naturally  enquire  what 
I  did  on  receiving  this  letter  from  the  department,  and  I'll  tell  you, 
I  immediately  offered  a  resolution  to  Congress,  asking  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  to  enquire  into  all  abuses  and  violations 
of  the  Sub-Treasury  act,  with  power  to  send  for  persons  and 
papers;  the  resolution  was  adopted,  the  committee  was  appointed, 
and  I  called  on  the  Chairman,  (Mr.  Root,  of  Ohio,)  over  and 
again,  to  call  his  committee  together  and  summon  me  as  a  wit- 
ness ;  at  the  same  time  I  received  letters  from  gentlemen  in  New 
Orleans,  Cincinnati,  New  York  and  elsewhere,  authorizing  me  to 
have  them  summoned  before  the  committee,  to  testify  to  the 
abuses  and  violations  coming  within  their  knowledge.  But,  Sir, 
everybody  in  Congress  was  then  engaged  in  President  making, 
and  few  could  find  time  for  any  thing  else,  and  the  committee 
never  did  meet.  And  it  was  not  long  afterwards  that  the  Whig 
Convention  met  in  Philadelphia,  and  nominated  Gen.  Taylor, 
which  I  looked  upon  as  such  a  death  blow  to  the  party,  as  that  I 
took  little  interest  in  what  was  going  on  for  the  balance  of  the 
session,  and  did  little  more  than  my  duty  as  Chairman  of  the  Mili- 
tary committee,  rendered  indispensable  and  imperative,  and  there 
it  ended. 

But  this  is  the  scheme,  this  is  the  sub-treasury,  that  this  Whig 
press  of  New  York  now  says  is  equally  acceptable  to  both  parties  ; 
and  this  is  the  defence  that  is  offered  for  the  violation  of  its  provi- 
sions, which  have  continued  in  a  thousand  times  more  aggravated 
form  from  that  day  to  this,  and  every  day  in  the  year,  and  which 
scheme  never  can  be  put  into  practical  lawful  operation. 

Candor,  Mr.  Chairman,  compels  me  to  say  that  I  do  not  think  it 
very  creditable  to  a  Whig  President,  and  a  Whig  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  who  were  in  office  for  nearly  three  years  with  a  full  know- 
ledge of  its  imperfections  and  constant  violations,  never  to  have 
called  the  attention  of  Congress  to  its  enormities,  and  at  least  have 
recommended  such  amendments  as  would  have  made  it  a  legal  agent, 
that  could  legally  carry  on  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  government ; 
and  that  it  was  not,  is  not,  and  never  will  be  legally  executed  in  its 
present  shape,  and  that  the  necessary  modifications  are  such  as  will 
destroy  its  chief  claims  to  the  Democratic  support,  which  was  to 
discontinue  all  connection  with  banks,  bank  paper,  drafts,  or  paper 
evidences  of  debt,  and  bring  us  down  strictly  to  a  hard  money,  gold 


HON.  JOHN  H.  BOTTS.  33 

and  silver  currency.  One  of  two  things  should  be  done  :  it  should 
be  executed  according  to  law,  or  it  should  be  abolished  altogether. 
As  it  is,  it  is  a  humbug  that  is  disreputable  to  the  government,  and 
it  is  not  creditable  to  any  to  be  satisfied  with  it. 

But  one  thing  remains,  Mr.  Chairman,  now  to  be  done,  and  that 
is  for  the  Whig  party  to  determine  what  course  they  ought  to  pur- 
sue. I  do  not  know  that  my  opinions  are  of  any  value,  but  accord- 
ing to  my  judgment,  they  should  hold  on  to  their  present  organiza- 
tion with  the  tenacity  of  death  ;  that  they  should  surrender  nothing 
of  their  principles  ;  hold  on  to  such  ground  as  they  can  occupy 
without  producing  excitement  at  the  polls  ;  let  the  other  party 
quarrel  as  they  choose  over  the  spoils,  and  assume  the  responsibility 
for  whatever  is  to  be  done  —  no  responsibility  can  rest  on  us,  and 
I  should  be  sorry  to  see  the  party  take  the  responsibility  of  origina- 
ting any  measure,  but  let  us  raise  our  flag  aloft  (that  the  discon- 
tented of  the  other  side  may  know  where  to  find  a  resting  place,) 
and  keep  it  floating  until  1856,  when  the  fruit  will  have  ripened, 
and  we  shall  have  little  else  to  do  if  we  are  wise  and  prudent, 
than  hold  out  our  hats  and  catch  it  as  it  falls. 

Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  I  have  said  all  I  have  to  aay,  and 
I  am  extremely  grateful  for  the  patient  and  anxious  attention  with 
which  you  have  honored  me. 

3.  The  Union  and  the  Constitution— The  foundation  of  our  prosperity  and 
the  bulwark  of  our  liberties. 

Letters  were  read  by  the  President,  from  Dr.  Aycrigg,  Jos.  F. 
Randolph,  and  Wm.  Halsted,  expressing  regret  that  they  could  not 
take  part  in  this  mark  of  respect  to  one  of  the  country's  worthiest 
sons. 

4.  The  Protection  of  Domestic  Industry  and  a  System  of  Internal  Improve- 
ments— Cardinal  principles  of  the  Whig  party. 

This  was  replied  to  by  Mr.  Wm.  E.  Lay  ton  in  a  very  effective 
manner. 

5.  The  Memory  of  Hemy  Clay — Other  standard  bearers  may  lead  us  to 
victory,  but  he  was  our  first  love,  and  will  never  be  forgotten. 

Drank  standing  in  silence — Responded  to  by  Chief  Justice  Horn- 
blower,  and  upon  the  conclusion  of  his  remarks  he  asked  leave  to 
retire,  which  was  granted. 

6.  Virginia  and  New  Jersey — Together  in  the  Revolution,  they  will  yet 
stand  together  in  the  support  of  the  American  system, 

This  toast  was  handsomely  responded  to  by  I.  M.  Tucker, 
3 


34  DINNER  TO  HON.  JOHN  ST.  BOTTS. 

7.  The  Whig  Party— Successful  in  '40  and  '48— defeated  in  '44  and  '52— it's 
our  turn  in  '56. 

Wm.  E.  Robinson,  Esq.,  being  called  upon,  replied  to  this  toast 
in  a  very  effective  manner. 

8.  The  Progress  and  Reform  of  the  Sham  Democracy — On#  step  forward 
and  two  steps  backward. 

9.  Newark — a  Whig  city,  full  of  sterling  friends  of  the  old  cause,  may  she 
never  in  an  unguarded  hour  surrender  to  the  enemy. 

Dr.  Congar  responded  to  this  toast. 

10.  The  Broad  Seal  of  New  Jersey — Always  vindicated  by  the  people  of 
onr  State,  let  our  efforts  be  directed  to  placing  it  in  Whig  hands. 

Absolam  B.  Woodruff,  Esq.,  of  Passaic,  was  here  loudly  called 
for  and  replied  in  a  very  effective  speech  which  was  most  happily 
received. 

11.  The  City  of  Richmond — Always  Whig,  yet  when  our  guest  is  running 
for  Congress,  we  regret  that  there  are  not  two  Riehmonds  in  the  field. 

This  was  responded  to  by  Dr.  Fox,  of  Richmond,  who  alluded 
eloquently  and  warmly,  to  the  guest  of  the  evening,  and  boasted  of 
his  popularity  in  the  old  city  of  Richmond.  The  remarks  were  in 
excellent  taste,  and  were  received  with  great  interest. 

12.  The  new  Administration  seems  about  to  faint — May  the  Adamantine* 
find  a  capital  hard  place  for  it  to  fall  on. 

13»  As  Statesmen  we  prefer  men  who  never  knew  where  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  was,  and  moreover  never  wish  to  know. 

This  was  handsomely  replied  to  by  L.  S.  Goble,  Esq.  After  a 
song  from  Jerry  Paul,  the  party  broke  up  about  one  o'clock,  highly 
pleased  with  the  entertainment,  and  with  the  gathering. 


APPENDIX. 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  APRIL  29th,  1848. 
Hox.  ROBERT  J.  WALKER,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — 

SIR:  On  the  15th  of  this  month,  I  had  occasion  to  collect,  for  one  of  my 
constituents,  two  small  claims  for  unpaid  dividends  on  the  stock  of  the  United 
States,  from  the  Treasury  Department,  for  which  I  received  in  payment,  two 
checks  on  the  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  the  Metropolis. 

By  the  16th  section  of  the  law,  commonly  known  «,s  the  Sub-treasury  Act, 
it  is  made  a  felony  for  any  officer  of  government  to  deposit  the  public  money 
in  any  bank,  for  which  offence  severe  penalties  are  attached. 

For  all  that  I  can  see,  this  law  must  have  been  grossly  violated  in  the 
instance  referred  to,  and  a  sense  of  public  duty,  no  less  than  justice  to  you, 
induces  me  to  seek  such  explanation  as  it  may  be  in  your  power  to  furnish. 
I  hope  to  receive  an  early  reply. 

I  am  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

JNO.  M.  BOTTS. 


TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  MAY  4th,  1848. 
HON.  JOHN  M.  BOTTS  : 

SIR:  Your  letter  of  the  29th  ultimo  has  been  received,  and  the  necessary 
measures  were  at  once  taken  to  answer  your  inquiries.  You  refer  to  two 
checks,  each  under  date  of  the  15th  of  April  last,  one  for  seventeen  dollars 
fifty-four  cents,  and  the  other  for  eighteen  dollars  and  sixty-nine  cents,  in 
your  favor  as  attorney,  bolh  signed  and  issued  by  the  Register  of  the  Treasury, 
*with  a  view  to  the  payment  of  unclaimed  dividends  on  ihe  stock  of  the  United 
States.  Annexed  you  will  find  a  letter  from  this  department,  marked  No.  1, 
requesting  from  the  Register  of  the  Treasury  an  explanation  of  this  transac- 
tion, No.  2,  the  reply  of  Mr.  Graham,  the  Register,  and  No.  8,  an  explanatory 
statement  from  Richard  Smith,  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  the  Metropolis.  From 
these  communications  you  will  perceive  that  no  public  money  has  been 
deposited  with  the  Bank  of  the  Metropolis  since  the  date  of  the  act  estab- 
lishing the  Constitutional  Treasury,  approved  August  6th,  1846.  You  will 
observe  that  the  date  of  the  last  deposit  wiih  that  bank  to  pay  these  divi- 
dends, was  the  26th  of  October,  1844;  that  these  deposites  were  all  absorbed 
by  the  10th  of  January,  1845,  and  that  any  subsequent  payments  were  made 
by  the  bank  or  by  Mr.  Smith,  to  the  persons  entitled  to  these  unclaimed  divi- 
dends, without  any  deposite  in  the  bank  by  the  government  to  meet  the 
checks.  The  bank  in  this  manner,  or  Mr.  Smith,  became  the  holder  ira4 


36  APPENDIX. 

assignee  of  these  unclaimed  dividends,  and  were  subsequently  paid  out  of  the 
Treasury  by  warrants,  in  strict  conformity  with  the  law.  No  deposite  being 
made  with  the  bank  since  the  passage  of  the  act  establishing  the  constitutional 
Treasury,  and  no  deposite  remaining  I  here  to  pay  these  dividends,  the  16th 
section,  then,  of  the  law  to  which  you  refer,  forbidding  future  deposites  with 
banks,  has  not  been  violated  by  the  Register. 

Many  years  ago,  under  the  provisions  of  the  law,  this  fund  for  the  payment 
of  unclaimed  dividends  was  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  Register  of  the 
Treasury,  in  whose  keeping  are  all  the  books  and  papers  appertaining  to  the 
matter.  Whilst  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  in  existence  as  a  deposi- 
tory of  the  government,  these  claims  were  paid  by  the  Register,  by  checks  on 
that  institution.  When  the  State  bank  system  was  adopted,  the  funds  were 
deposited  by  the  Register  with  the  Bank  of  the  Metropolis,  to  make  these 
payments.  It  seems  that  the  last  deposite  was  imule  on  the  26th  of  October, 
1844,  with  the  bank,  and  it  has  had  no  funds  for  that  purpose  from  the  gov- 
ernment since  the  10th  of  January,  1845.  These  unclaimed  dividends  arise 
chiefly  out  of  the  old  funded  revolutionary  and  war  debt,  and  are  payable  in 
very  small  sums,  as  minute  as  one,  two,  and  three  cents  up  to  a  few  dollars, 
and  are  payable  chiefly  to  the  heirs,  executors  or  administrators  of  deceased 
persons.  The  Register  finding  it  very  inconvenient  to  pay  these  minute  sums 
in  separate  warrants,  adopted  the  plan  before  described.  After  the  passage 
of  the  act  establishing  the  constitutional  Treasury,  these  checks  were  given 
by  the  Register,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  are  nothing  more  than  a 
request  upon  the  drawee  to  advance  these  small  sums,  temporarily  to  become 
in  this  manner  the  assignees  and  agents  for  their  collection,  and  to  look  to 
the  Treasury  whenever  they  may  desire,  for  the  payment  of  the  dividends. 
The  dividends  in  fact  are  not  paid  by  the  Treasury,  either  to  the  bank,  or  to 
any  other  person  whatever,  except  by  a  warrant  passed  through  the  Treasury 
in  conformity  to  law,  when  the  amount  is  liquidated  for  the  tirst  time  out  of 
the.  Treasury  by  draft  upon  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States.  In  this  way, 
a  considerable  aggregate  amount  was  pa,id  by  the  Treasury  at.  one  time  to- the 
agents  or  assignees,  instead  of  the  separate  warrants  for  a  few  cents  or  a  few 
dollars  to  the  persons  in  whose  nam^-s  the  unclaimed  dividends  stood  on  the 
books  of  the  Treasury.  The  right  of  the  bank  to  purchase  these  dividends 
and  obtain  payment  for  the  aggregate  sum  from  the  Treasury,  is  unquestiona- 
ble, and  if  this  right  is  vested  in  the  bank,  the  request  to  make  the  purchase 
and  receive  the  aggregate  payment  from  the  Treasury,  violates  no  provision 
of  the  law.  No  money  is  deposited  by  the  Treasury  with  the  bank,  but 
when  it  becomes  the  lawiul  holder  of  tlu>se  dividends,  it  is  paid  from  the 
Treasury  by  the  usual  treasury  warrants  in  conformity  with  the  law. 

It  is  due  to  truth,  however,  to  state  that  this  mode  of  payment  by  the 
Register,  since  the  Constitutional  Treasury  law  went  into  force,  was  never 
brought  to  the  notice  of  this  department  until  since  the  loth  of  April,  1848, 
and  although  the  department  possesses  no  power  to  prevent  tjhe  purchase  of 
these  dividends  by  the  bank,  or  to  restrain  the  payment  to  it  as  an  agent  or 
assignee,  yet  it  has  requested  the  Register  to  issue  no  more  checks  of  the  char- 


APPENDIX.  37 

acter  referred  to  in  your  communication,  not  because  they  are  violative  of  the 
law,  but  for  the  reason  that  they  present  an  appearance  of  the  deposite  by 
the  Treasury  of  public  monies  with  the  bank,  when  in  fact  there  is  no  such 
deposite,  and  therefore  requiring  explanation. 

The  Kegister  of  the  Treasury  is  not  appointed  by  nor  responsible  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  if  any  error  were  committed  by  him,  the  cen- 
sure should  not  fall  on  this  department,  unless  it  had  neglected  to  perform  the 
duties  or  give  the  instructions  required  from  it  by  the  law.  If  the  proper  in- 
structions were  given  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  they  were  disre- 
garded by  the  Register  or  any  other  officer,  without  the  knowledge  or  consent 
of  the  Secretary,  surely  he  would  not  be  responsible  either  in  morals  or  in 
law. 

The  act  establishing  the  constitutional  Treasury  was  approved  on  the  6th 
of  August,  1846,  but  did  not  go  into  effect  as  regards  the  payment  of  monies 
under  the  provisions  of  the  law  until  the  1st  of  January,  and  in  fact  for  some 
months  afterwards.  Annexed  are  printed  circulars  issued  by  this  department 
under  date  of  the  25th  and  26th  of  August,  1846,  and  the  15th  of  September, 
1846,  marked  A,  B,  and  0,  which  relate  more  especially  to  the  matter  in  con- 
troversy. The  circulars  of  the  25th  and  26th,  were  not  only  sent  in  printed 
letters  to  the  several  officers  entitled  to  receive  them,  but,  with  a  view  to 
making  them  more  fully  known,  were  published  at  their  respective  dates  in 
the  Union  and  National  Intelligencer  of  this  city.  You  will  perceive,  espe- 
cially in  the  circular  of  the  26th  of  August,  1846,  addressed  to  "collecting, 
receiving  and  disbursing  officers  of  the  United  States,"  that  the  16th  section  of 
this  act,  as  well  as  the  6th,  9th,  and  15th  are  printed  in  the  circular,  and  that 
"  the  attention  of  all  public  officers  enumerated  in  the  above  section  is  hereby 
called  to  the  provision  therein  contained,"  If  therefore,  this  16th  section,  a? 
you  have  supposed  had  been  violated  by  the  Register  as  a  disbursing  officer  of 
the  government,  the  act  would  have  been  committed,  not  only  without  the 
consent  of  this  department,  but  directly  in  contravention  of  its  printed  circular 
and  newspaper  notice.  It  is  belived,  however,  that  you  will  be  satisfied  that 
no  violation  of  the  law  was  in  fact  committed  by  the  Register,  however  much 
the  check,  to  which  you  very  properly  call  my  attention,  might  have  been 
well  calculated  to  produce  a  contrary  impression  upon  your  mind. 

I  have  not  placed  this  transaction  upon  the  ground  of  any  technicality,  but 
(as  incidentally  referred  to  by  the  Register,)  the  bank  of  the  Metropolis  ceased 
to  exist  as  a  Bank  on  the  4th  of  July,  1844;  its  charter  then  expired,  and  was 
not  renewed,  and  it  hasoiow  no  more  authority,  power  or  existence  as  a  bank, 
than  if  it  had  never  received  a  charter,  and  its  business  is  conducted,  as  avowed 
by  itself  and  its  counsel,  as  a  private  partnership,  in  the  name  of  agents  called 
trustees,  and  it  has  no  other  legal  existence  or  rights  than  any  other  private 
partnership  in  this  District,  and  is  subject  to  the  same  responsibilities.  Although 
this  is  the  law,  and  this  partnership  is  not  a  bank  within  the  provisions  of  the 
16th  seciion  of  the  act  to  which  you  refer,  yet  I  should  regard  it  as  contrary 
to  the  policy  of  the  constitutional  Treasury  to  make  it  a  depository  of  public 
monies.  This  department  hopes  you  will  perceive  that  the  law  has  not  been 


38  APPENDIX. 

violated  by  the  Register,  much  lees  by  this  department,  and  that  you  will  sea 
in  the  circulars  issued  by  it,  that  it  has  been  its  sincere  desire  to  perform  its 
whole  duty  fully  and  fairly  in  relation  to  this  law.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  whose  health  does  not  permit  him  at  this  time  to  assume  the  full 
discharge  of  his  duties,  expresses  his  concurrence  in  this  letter  and  desires  me 
to  tender  his  acknowledgments  for  the  opportunity  afforded  to  communicate- 
this  explanation. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

M.  C.  YOUNG,  Acting  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 


